796.5 
H29b 


Tlie  Big  Hike 

FOR  THE 

Summer  Vacation  Period 


UNIVERSITY  OF 

nUNOiS  LIBRARY 
AT  URBANA-CHAMPA.GN 

,,UK0^S  W^rromCM.  SURVEY 


^  i  <^  * 


Tke  Bi5  Hike 

FOR  THE 

Slimmer  Vacation  Perioa 


Taking  the  party  from  place  to  place  for  instruction 

and    recreation    instead    of    spending    the    full 

time  at  a  fixed  Camp. 

By 

Jokii  H.  Hauberg,  L.L.B. 

Member    Executive     Committee,     Illinois     Sunday     School 
Association.  Member  Boys'  Work  Committee,  Rotary 
Club,  Rock  Island,  111.  Member  Executive  Com- 
mittee of  the  State  Association  of 
Y.    M.    C.    A.'s    of    Illinois. 


The    illustrations    are    from 
photos  taken   by   the  author. 


ROCK  ISLAND,  ILLINOIS 

1924 


y 


M.imi^, 


To  My  Wife, 

All  equal  partner  in  devotion  to    all    onr 

Boijs'  work;  wko  sees  us  on  on  our 

Big  Hikes;   stai.js  Idlj  tlie  StuH 

wkile  we  are  awaij,  ana 

travels  lar  to  meet 

us     on     our 

return 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Chapter         I.  Why?    9 

Chapter       II.  On  Wheels   12 

Chapter     III.  Routes  and  Schedules   18 

Chapter      IV.  Each  Fellow  a  Task   36 

Chapter        V.  Cookery    49 

Chapter      VI.  Devotionals 60 

Chapter    VII.  Overnight   67 

Chapter  VIII.  Steamboating  for  a  Change 76 

Chapter      IX.  The  Black  Hawk  Hiking  Club 88 

Chapter        X.  Worth  While  Trips    95 

Chapter      XI.  The  United  Sunday  School  Band 133 


CHAPTER  I. 
Why? 

IN  a  conference  on  Boys'  Camps,  a  State  Secretary 
remarked :  "I  fear  sometimes  that  we  get  our  boys' 
camps  too  civilized.  Some  of  these  camps  have  all  the 
conveniences  known  to  up-to-date  home  life." 

Of  course,  in  case  a  fearful  storm  is  raging,  the  folks 
at  home  know  that  their  boy  is  as  well  sheltered  in 
the  fixed  camp  as  at  home,  while  on  the  Big  Hike, 
as  described  in  the  following  pages,  the  harder  it 
storms,  the  less  they  know  of  Son's  circumstances, 
or  exact  whereabouts. 

But  a  boy  often  becomes  weary  of  having  everything 
done  for  him,  with  no  chance  for  his  own  initiative. 
He  wants  to  be  doing,  and  seeing,  and  learning  to  know 
something  through  his  own  exertions. 

The  camp  with  class  instruction  through  books  and 
lectures,  supplemented  with  camp  activities,  provides 
a  program  of  finest  cultural  and  inspirational  values, 

9 


10 


THE  BIG  HIKE 


but  the  vacation  training  for  manhood  should  be  dif- 
ferent from  the  school  room  where  he  has  already 
spent  the  preceding  nine  or  ten  months. 

That  Summer-camp  is  best  for  character-building 
in  which  the  greatest  number  and  variety  of  prob- 
lems are  met  and  triumphantly  solved. 

Sir  Baden-Powell,  serving  with  the  army  in  Africa, 
where  it  was  sometimes  necessary  that  the  soldiers 
practice  a  degree  of  self-help,  found  that  the  Regulars 
from  the  Brstish  Isles  were  so  used  to  having  every- 
thing done  for  them,  that  they  were  helpless  when  left 
to  shift  for  themselves.  To  correct  this  he  sent  them  out 
in  details,  to  do  scouting  and  to  learn  to  become  self-re- 
liant. Then  he  tried  the  plan  with  companies  of  boys 
and  called  them  Boy  Scouts.     The  outing,  therefore, 


WHY? 


11 


which  leaves  the  most  possible  to  the  boy's  own  de- 
vices, comes  nearest  to  the  Boy  Scout  ideal. 

An  ever-changing  scene;  a  continual  round  of  ad- 
justing one's  self  to  new  conditions;  the  meeting  of 
unforeseen  obstacles  which  must  be  overcome;  each 
night  choosing  a  strange  spot  where  he  will  unroll  his 
blanket;  every  day  with  its  duties,  in  which  he  must 
take  the  initiative;  the  presence  of  the  Gang  with 
whom  he  must  keep  in  harmonious  relation,  these  are 
some  of  the  items  which  make  the  Big  Hike  an  ideal 
outing  for  boys. 


CHAPTER  II 
On  Wheels. 

A  DAY'S  hike  in  the  vicinity  of  Home  is  easily 
made  from  the  end  of  the  trolley  line  at  the  city 
limits,  but  when  one  plans  for  wider  flight,  a  Big  Hike, 
covering  several  days  or  weeks,  it  is  necessary  to  pro- 
vide some  way  of  taking  care  of  baggage  and  equip- 
ment. 

Our  Big  Hike  has  always  been  on  wheels,  with 
either  horse-drawn  vehicles  or  auto-trucks.  Each  has 
its  advantages.  The  horse-drawn  outfit  cannot  travel 
as  far  in  a  given  time,  but  its  gait  is  such  that  the  boys 
are  on  and  off  the  wagons,  playing  as  they  go,  chasing 
one  another,  getting  a  drink  at  a  farm  house  and 
catching  up  again  without  having  to  stop  to  wait  for 
them. 

No  matter  how  heavy  the  load  of  boys  and  baggage, 
our  horses  never  came  to  a  hard  pull,  for  all  but  the 
drivers  would  walk  up-hill,  or  over  sandy  or  heavy 
muddy   stretches   of  road  and  would  be  aboard  only 

12 


ON  WHEELS 


13 


where  the  roads  were  easier.  Our  argument  was  that 
if  a  boy  became  tired  he  could  ride,  but  if  we  wore  out 
our  horses  with  heavy  pulling  we  would  all  be  at  a 
standstill,  and  the  trip  broken  up  at  least  temporarily. 
With  this  regard  for  the  horses,  a  fairly  good  team  will 
take  you  an  average  of  say  twenty-five  miles  per  day 


for  a  dozen  days  or  more,  and  be  but  little  the  worse 
for  it. 

Sometimes  we  had  trouble  in  securing  good  horses. 
One  year  we  had  a  party  of  seventy-five  boys  and 
asked  for  seven  wagons.  The  liveryman  had  trouble 
getting  so  many  extra  horses,  with  the  result  that  we 
had  a  couple  of  teams  which  were  unable  to  keep  the 
pace.  On  that  trip  we  covered  230  miles  in  eleven  days. 
We  always  provided  facilities  for  carrying  the  entire 
outfit,  boys,  baggage  and  all,  all  at  the  same  time. 


14 


THE  BIG  HIKE 


The  horses  enjoy  their  hay   and   grain   during-  the  noon   stop. 


Our  hostlers  were  appointed  from  our  own  party, 
for  not  only  would  it  cost  good  money  to  hire  a  man, 
but  what  is  much  more  to  the  point,  the  boys  would 
be  deprived  of  the  opportunity  of  learning  to  drive 
and  of  taking  care  of  horses — the  feeding,  watering, 
currying,  harnessing,  etc.  On  one  of  our  trips  into 
Iowa  we  had  the  boys  unharness  the  horses  during 
the  noon  stop,  so  as  to  better  rest  them,  as  it  was  a 
warm  day.  One  of  the  hostlers  was  finding  it  impos- 
sible to  reharness  his  team,  until  a  farm  boy  happened 
along  and  straightened  things  out  for  him.  It  was 
reported  to  the  writer  that  our  young  city  hostler  had 
taken  the  harness  off  '*in  about  twenty  pieces." 

On  another  Big  Hike  a  boy  was  asked  to  be  a  hostler 
for  the  trip.    The  young  fellow  replied,  ''I  don't  know 


ON  WHEELS  15 

anything  about  horses,  except  that  one  kicked  me  once 
and  I've  been  afraid  of  them  ever  since."  He  was 
appointed  hostler,  and  before  the  end  of  the  journey 
had  become  a  careful  driver,  and  took  an  almost  af- 
fectionate interest  in  his  team,  going  over  them  with 
curry-comb  and  brush  and  attending  to  their  needs, 
while  other  boys  were  playing  at  games. 

At  meal  time  the  hostlers  were  always  the  first  to 
be  served,  and  would  have  their  horses  hitched  up  and 
ready  to  start  by  the  time  the  entire  gang  was  ready. 
It  was  evident  in  many  instances  that  one  of  his  proud- 
est moments  had  come  to  a  boy  when  he  was  permitted 
to  take  the  reins  and  be  a  driver,  if  only  for  a  little 
while. 

But  we  wished  for  a  wider  flight  than  is  possible 
with  horses,  and  for  the  last  six  years  we  have  made 
our  Big  Hike  by  automobile.  We  have  been  fortunate 
in  having  young  fellows  each  year  who  could  qualify 
as  chaffeurs.  As  in  the  case  with  wagons  we  always 
provide  facilities  for  carrying  the  entire  party  and 
baggage.  Even  at  this  the  fellows  do  a  great  deal  of 
walking,  and  the  Big  Hike  is  not  a  misnomer. 

We  have  generally  taken  large,  seven-passenger 
touring  cars  of  the  best  makes,  second-hand,  which 
were  out  of  date  but  in  excellent  running  condition, 
and  sawed  the  body  in  two  just  back  of  the  front  seat, 
and  in  place  of  the  heavy  rear  of  the  body,  we  built 
a  platform  with  a  long  seat  at  each  side,  thus  making 


16 


THE  BIG  HIKE 


seating  for  a  dozen  fellows  or  more.  One  of  our  pres- 
ent outfits,  however,  is  a  ton-and-a-half  truck,  pur- 
chased for  the  purpose,  and  made  up  with  a  long,  up- 
holstered seat  at  each  side  of  the  platform. 

In  addition  to  the  above-mentioned  w^e  have  a  four- 
wheeled  trailmobile  which  we  sometimes  use.  It  has 
seating  for  a  dozen  or  so  of  boys,  and  has  the  cupboard 
at  the  rear  in  which  we  pack  the  cooking  equipment 
and  the  groceries. 

With  this  made-over  touring  car,  and  the  one-and- 
a-half-ton  truck  and  trailmobile,  we  in  1921  carried 
a  party  of  fifty  fellows,  besides  their  baggage,  which 
averaged  about  twelve  pounds  each.  We  get  over  the 
roads  at  about  an  average  of  15  miles  or  a  little  better 
than  that,  for  the  truck  is  slow.    The  made-over  tour- 


The   Piercc-Anow   inade-os'er   car   and    trailniubile. 


ON  WHEELS 


17 


ing  car,  while  capable  of  50  or  more  miles  per  hour, 
will,  when  drawing  the  trailer,  and  having  a  total  load 
of  about  25  boys  with  all  their  baggage,  average  eigh- 
teen miles  per  hour  over  the  best  roads. 


Our   cars   are  open  top.      The   view   is  better   that   way. 

We  have  never  provided  a  ''top"  for  the  cars,  and 
though  the  sun  may  be  hot  at  times,  the  movement 
of  the  car  never  fails  to  create  a  refreshing  breeze, 
and  the  view  is  not  confined.  In  case  of  rain  a  tar- 
paulin is  spread,  sometimes  over  an  emergency  frame, 
and  sometimes  the  boys  merely  pull  it  over  their  heads, 
and  their  chatter  and  scuffling  go  merrily  on  while  the 
rain  pours,  and  the  chaffeur  holds  to  the  road.  , 

Our  vacation  trips  of  this  nature  have  taken  from 
four  days  to  two  weeks,  and  it  goes  without  saying 
that  a  trip  of  1500  miles  in  a  given  time,  gives  less 
time  for  the  enjoyment  of  each  point  of  interest  than  a 
trip  covering  but  half  or  a  third  of  the  distance. 

The  Biff  Hike.     2. 


CHAPTER  III. 
Routes  and  Schedules. 

MONTHS  before  vacation  time  the  place  where 
we  will  go  has  been  decided  upon,  and  we  pro- 
ceed to  select  the  best  route. 

Automobile  Blue  Books  and  road  maps  are  diligently 
studied,  the  boys  are  told  what  they  are  to  see,  history 
is  reviewed,  books  relating  to  the  country  are  some- 
times read.  A  vote  is  taken  as  to  whether  there  is  to 
be  an  essay  contest  on  our  return  home,  and  if  so,  how 
long  an  essay  and  when  the  time  limit  for  it  expires. 

The  Blue  Book  gives  mileage,  contour  of  the  country, 
whether  hilly  or  level;  kind  of  road,  as,  sand,  dirt, 
gravel,  macadam,  or  paved,  and  what  is  equally  prized, 
it  makes  special  mention  of  many  points  of  interest. 

Our  country  has  so  much  that  is  attractive,  that 
while  pursuing  your  special  objective,  you  are  often 
passing  by  with  no  time  for  observation,  many  points 
of  almost  equal  interest  with  what  was  especially  se- 
lected.    Our  1919  Big  Hike,  for  instance,  had  in  it  a 

18 


ROUTES  AND  SCHEDULES 


19 


Crossing  the  Mississippi   at   Fulton,    111.,    via   the   Lincoln    Highway. 


succession  of  fascinating  items,  namely :  Starved  Rock 
State  park ;  Chicago ;  Great  Lakes  Naval  Training  Sta- 
tion; Milwaukee,  with  its  fine  museum  at  the  public 
library  and  parks  along  Lake  Michigan;  Manitowoc, 
Wis.,  and  its  railroad  ferry  across  Lake  Michigan,  the 
Menominee  Reservation  with  its  1700  Indians;  won- 
derful virgin  forests;  Madison,  Wis.,  with  its  Univer- 
sity, historical  collections,  capitol,  and  beautiful  lakes; 
Camp  Grant,  Rockford,  111.,  where  the  famous  Black 
Hawks  were  trained  for  service  in  the  World  war; 
Oregon,  111.,  and  its  beautiful  Rock  river  surroundings, 
and  back  to  Rock  Island,  and  all  along  the  entire  trip 
attractive  farm  and  dairy  country  interspersed  with 
beckoning  lakes  and  rivers,  with  an  occasional  stop  to 
see  logging  operations ;  saw  mill ;  paper  mill,  cheese 


20 


THE  BIG  HIKE 


factory  out  in  the  country,  and  with  it  all,  the  unusual 
style  of  camp-life  and  the  happy,  chattering  comrade- 
ship among  the  fellows,  a  spirit  to  which  the  out-of- 
doors  contributes  so  generously. 


Camp   Grant   where  the  Black   Hawks  were  trained. 

In  preparation  for  the  above-named  trip,  we  wrote 
the  Park  Commissioners  of  Chicago  for  camping  priv- 
ileges; to  Swift  &  Co.,  so  as  to  be  sure  of  a  guide 
through  their  immense  slaughtering  plants;  to  the 
Board  of  Trade,  which  at  that  time  required  a  special 
permit,  to  witness  its  pits,  with  their  frantic  bulls  and 
bears ;  to  the  Indian  Agency,  inquiring  about  guides, 
fishing  and  other  privileges.  In  addition  to  this  we  did 
advance  scouting  by  rail  and  auto,  to  settle  some  of  the 
details  of  the  route  and  schedule. 


ROUTES  AND  SCHEDULES  21 

In  making  up  the  schedule  one  needs  to  work  out  a 
reasonable  distance  to  be  covered  each  day,  allowing 
time  for  emergencies,  so  that  in  spite  of  delays,  the  en- 
tire round  can  be  made,  returning  home  the  very  day  as 
planned,  with  something  of  unusual  interest  every  day 
of  the  trip,  and  rounding  up  at  night  at  a  good  camping 
place. 

If  possible,  a  wet-weather  route  and  a  dry-roads 
route  should  be  worked  out  so  that  the  schedule  can  be 
made  in  spite  of  bad  weather,  but  be  assured  of  this, 
that  the  worst  weather  and  road  conditions  bring  to 
the  party  certain  compensations  which  are  unknown 
to  the  fair-weather  hiker. 

Speaking  of  weather  conditions,  we  recall  with  sat- 
isfaction our  trip  of  1917.  There  were  75  of  us  in  the 
party,  with  the  writer  as  the  only  adult  member.  We 
traveled  in  seven  horse-drawn  wagons,  and  it  was 
raining  as  we  started.  On  our  third  day  out  a  storm 
of  heavy  wind  and  rain  came  upon  us  while  we  were 


Our   caravan  of   seven  wagons. 


22  THE  BIG  HIKE 

having  our  noon  meal.  The  meal  ended,  we  traveled 
on,  with  the  rain  pouring,  drenched  to  the  skin,  pass- 
ing fallen  trees  and  windmills  blown  down  by  the  wind. 
It  stopped  raining  about  the  middle  of  the  afternoon, 
but  the  wind  continued  so  strong  that  as  we  walked, 
we  had  to  be  careful  lest  the  wind  would  blow  us  out 
of  our  path.  We  were  literally  blown  dry.  We  had 
tents  on  that  trip,  but  the  ground  being  too  wet,  we  se- 
cured permission  to  spend  the  night  in  the  Gymnasium 
of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  (at  Sterling,  111),  but  we  were 
about  five  miles  short  of  our  schedule.  Five  miles  is 
a  long  way  with  wagon  and  horses,  so  next  morning 
we  covered  that  distance  before  breakfast,  and  were 
on  our  way  again  at  9:00  A.  M.  Just  as  we  were 
ready  to  leave  the  city  of  Dixon  there  was  a  heavy 
downpour  of  rain,  but  we  were  all  cheerfully  climbing 
into  the  wagons,  and  some  by-standers  asked  in  as- 
tonishment, **What  do  you  do  when  it  rains?"  There 
seemed  to  be  only  one  reply  to  make,  namely,  ''Let  it 
rain,"  and  we  jogged  along,  soon  getting  beyond  the 
city  limits  on  to  muddy  roads.  We  were  headed  for 
Taft's  big  Indian  statue  at  Oregon,  111.,  at  which  place 
we  had  secured  permission  to  camp  that  night. 

Our  scedule  seemed  the  one  big  thing  in  mind.  The 
boys  did  not  ride  through  muddy  roads,  but  walked, 
the  wagons  under  such  circumstances  being  load 
enough  for  the  horses.  It  soon  stopped  raining,  the 
3x5  feet  flags  were  taken  from  their  casings  and  were 


ROUTES  AND  SCHEDULES  23 

flapping  over  every  wagon ;  the  boys'  faces  beamed 
vs^ith  eagerness,  and  as  we  pressed  on,  it  seemed  like  a 
moving  Fourth  of  July  celebration.  Nobody  wanted  to 
stop  to  eat,  except  for  cookies,  etc.,  bought  at  passing 
stores,  and  so  it  was  twelve  hours  between  meals  that 
day. 

In  the  meantime  it  had  gotten  dark,  but  at  9:00 
o'clock  that  night  we  were  gathered  around  the  camp 
fire  at  Oregon,  partaking  of  one  of  the  rarest  good 
meals  ever  served.  Our  horses  again  were  enjoying  a 
night  in  a  livery  and  feed  stable,  and  most  of  the  boys 
promptly  accepted  the  hospitality  of  the  livery  pro- 
prietor and  opened  their  beds  in  his  barn,  but  some  of 
us,  who  were  determined  that  the  Big  Hike  should  be 
an  Outing,  made  our  beds  in  the  open  wagons.  At 
midnight,  however,  we  were  awakened  by  the  patter 
of  rain,  and  made  a  dash  for  the  barn. 

We  had  lacked  about  two  miles  of  making  our  sched- 
ule, but  were  feeling  fine,  and  next  morning  after 
breakfast  we  formed  a  procession  of  fours,  and  with 
fife,  drum  and  bugle  playing,  flags  flying,  and  our  car- 
avan of  wagons  bringing  up  the  rear,  we  paraded  a 
few  blocks,  just  for  fun,  then  marched  across  the  Rock 
river  bridge,  put  away  our  instruments  and  started 
in  earnest  on  another  day  of  water  and  mud.  We 
scrambled  up  to  Eagles'  Nest,  where  stands  the  great 
Indian  statue,  and  to  the  Artists'  Colony  to  see  a  col- 
lection of  plaster  models,  and  then  continued  on  toward 


24 


THE  BIG  HIKE 


The  Lorado  Taft  Indian  statue  at  Eagles  Nest,  near  Oregon,   111. 


Stillman  Valley,  the  scene  of  the  Indians'  triumph  over 
the  Americans  in  the  Black  Hawk  war  in  1832.  At 
one  point  we  had  to  clear  a  fallen  tree  from  the  road- 
way, and  we  assisted  an  auto  in  getting  through  a  mud 
hole. 

Nightfall  at  Stillman  Valley  found  us  still  short  of 
our  schedule,  but  we  had  had  a  great  day. 


ROUTES  AND  SCHEDULES  25 

We  had  written  some  good  people  of  the  town  of 
our  proposed  visit  there,  and  this  day,  as  the  writer  ar- 
rived with  the  caravan  of  wagons,  he  founds  most  of  the 
boys  had  reached  there  ahead  of  him,  having  walked 
along  the  railroad  track,  and  were  being  royally  en- 
tertained at  a  fine  private  residence.  The  dear,  good 
lady  was  serving  large  lots  of  the  finest  home-made 
cookies,  while  the  boys  were  showing  their  apprecia- 
tion by  singing  and  giving  guitar  and  piano  music. 
The  rugs  were  badly  bedaubed  with  mud,  but  the  fine 
hostess  seemed  not  to  notice  it.  We  spent  that  night 
in  a  large  vacant  barn,  for  the  ground  was  still  too  wet 
for  sleeping. 

Next  day  we  were  to  have  a  great  treat.  The  Rock- 
ford,  111.,  Rotary  Club  had  invited  us  to  dine  with 
them.  We  were  in  reach  of  that  city,  but  with  no  time 
to  lose,  so  we  started  on  the  road  without  breakfast. 
One  of  the  teams  celebrated  by  having  a  brisk  run- 
away, but  no  one  was  hurt.  We  breakfasted  after 
reaching  Rockford,  and  were  on  hand  for  the  sumptu- 
ous dinner,  though  some  of  us  were  hardly  dressed  to 
appear  in  company.  One  boy  had  lost  his  shoes,  sev- 
eral had  lost  their  hats,  others  had  torn  clothes  or  lost 
buttons  which  the  artificer  had  not  had  time  to  re- 
place, and  all  of  us  looked  weatherbeaten.  We  were 
seated  alternately  with  Rotarians,  and  at  the  end  of 
the  meal  several  of  the  men,  each  declaring  his  was 
the  best  speaker,  would  stand  his  boy  guest  on  a  chair 


26  THE  BIG  HIKE 

for  an  address.  They  were  much  applauded,  and 
prizes  were  drawn  for,  and  we  came  away,  one  boy 
having  drawn  a  peck  of  peanuts,  others  drew  such 
gifts  as  a  base  ball,  catcher's  mitt,  and  a  generous  lot 
of  other  useful  articles.  That  night  found  us  entirely 
up  with  our  schedule,  and  all  sleeping  on  the  ground,  in 
a  beautiful  place  beside  Rock  river. 

Next  day,  two  of  our  teams  of  horses  having  become 
too  tired  to  keep  up  the  pace,  we  transferred  their  load 
of  tents  and  baggage  to  other  wagons,  and  more  walk- 
ing had  to  be  done  by  the  boys.  One  of  our  wagons 
was  a  hack  with  substantial  wood  roof.  On  top  of  this 
we  placed  some  light  pieces  of  baggage,  but  found  it 
necessary  to  have  a  boy  spread  himself  over  it  to  keep 
it  from  falling  off.  In  an  unguarded  moment  a  wheel 
went  into  a  chuck  hole,  the  boy,  baggage  and  all  dashed 
overboard  into  the  mud.  The  boy  declared  his  neck 
was  broken  in  two  places,  so  our  boy  doctors  got  out 
their  bandages,  adhesive  and  otherwise,  and  wound 
yards  of  it  about  the  complaining  boy's  neck — and  he 
recovered. 

That  night  we  turned  off  the  road,  entered  by  a  gate, 
and  drove  a  winding  way  for  perhaps  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  among  trees  into  the  Pine  Forest  in  Ogle  County, 
111.  That  night,  as  our  camp  fire  lighted  the  high, 
lace-like,  symmetrical,  overarching  branches  of  the 
white  pine,  with  the  tall,  straight  tree  trunks  all  about, 
it  made  a  scene  of  unusual  beauty. 


ROUTES  AND  SCHEDULES 


27 


The  boys  with  the  travel-weary  horses  arrived  about 
midnight,  long  after  our  camp  fire  had  died  down  and 
everybody  was  asleep.  How  they  were  able  to  follow 
us,  to  locate  the  gate,  even  to  see  the  flag  which  we 
had  placed  there,  and  to  keep  our  track  until  they  came 
upon  our  camp  in  the  midst  of  the  forest,  has  always 


The  good   old    eating   time. 

been  beyond  comprehension,  for  it  was  so  dark  one 
could  not  see  his  hands  before  his  face.  The  boys  said 
they  had  started  with  a  flash  light  but  it  gave  out,  and 
as  they  got  into  the  forest  they  proceeded  by  leading 
the  horses  by  the  hitchstraps,  getting  on  all  fours  oc- 
casionally, to  feel  the  road  with  their  hands. 

Every  cloud,  we  are  told,  has  a  silver  lining ;  the  sun 
always  comes  out  and  saves  the  day  at  one  point  or 


28  THE  BIG  HIKE 

another.  The  faith  of  our  gang  never  wavered;  the 
spirit  and  discipline  of  the  75  were  such  throughout 
that  they  presented  no  more  of  a  problem  to  the  leader 
than  would  be  the  case  with  a  party  of  only  a  half 
dozen  boys.  We  had  more  rain,  but  the  sun  did  come 
out,  we  kept  the  schedule  to  the  end,  and  the  boys  met 
their  engagements  with  their  employers  for  the  vaca- 
tion jobs,  on  time. 

We  have  never  heard  any  of  the  fellows  say  they 
were  thankful  for  so  much  rain,  mud  and  inconven- 
ience in  general,  but  character  building  goes  on  with 
quickened  pace  where  hardship  is  met  and  overcome, 
as  on  the  1917  Big  Hike. 

On  our  trip  into  the  Indian  country  in  Wisconsin, 
we  had  a  day  which  was  so  crowded  with  unusual 
events  that  it  seemed  like  a  period  of  several  days. 
Our  Indian  guide  headed  the  company  of  37  boys  for 
a  12-mile  walk  through  the  forest,  bound  for  the  Dells 
of  Wolf  river.  The  rest  of  us  expected  to  follow  most 
of  the  way  with  the  autos,  picking  our  way  over  un- 
certain woods  roads.  We  had  hardly  started  when  we 
found  that  through  some  oversight  the  Pierce  was 
without  gasoline.  The  Packard  got  but  a  few  hun- 
dred yards  with  its  heavy  load,  when  it  got  into  deep 
sand,  and  in  a  twinkling  ground  out  the  "discs,"  which 
answer  for  what  in  other  machines  is  the  ''clutch." 
It  was  helpless  and  could  not  move  on  its  own  power. 
The  Ford  had  gone  for  groceries.    We  then  secured  the 


ROUTES  AND  SCHEDULES  29 

aid  of  an  Indian  farmer,  who  took  our  bedding,  cook- 
ing utensils,  scant  groceries  and  a  few  passengers 
aboard  his  hay-rack  wagon,  and  started  over  the  wind- 
ing road,  so  narrow  we  brushed  the  trees  on  both  sides. 
We  soon  came  to  where  there  seemed  to  be  no  regular 
road,  and  the  Indian  had  to  pick  a  way  around  fallen 
tree  trunks  and  over  streams  which  had  no  bridges. 

The  boys  who  with  the  guide  had  walked  on  ahead, 
reached  the  Dells  just  before  sunset.  They  thought  it 
impossible  for  us  to  reach  them,  and  proceeded  to  make 
a  supper  of  wild  blackberries,  of  which  there  were 
hundreds  of  acres  of  ripe,  glistening  fruit  scattered 
throughout  the  forest.  They  were  quite  surprised 
when  at  dusk  we  emerged  with  our  hay-rack  wagon 
upon  the  little  clearing  about  the  Dells.  What  little 
we  had  with  us  of  groceries,  was  consumed  for  supper, 
being  scarcely  more  than  a  taste  of  food.  The  general 
belief  was  that  the  Ford  crew  would  not  reach  us  for 
at  least  two  reasons.  There  was  no  road  and  the 
forest  was  quite  dark.  The  Leader  took  great  pride 
in  stating  that  he  knew  the  calibre  of  every  one  of  the 
fellows  who  were  back  with  the  Ford;  that  there  was 
not  a  ''quitter"  among  them,  and  that  certainly  they 
would  not  give  up  until  they  had  found  our  camp. 

The  natives  had  told  us  stories  of  bears,  and  of  the 
difficulty  of  the  mother  bear  finding  food  for  the  young 
at  this  season  of  the  year.  They  confidently  assured 
us  that  an  Indian  boy  who  had  gone  out  after  cattle  had 


Gust,   our  Mcnouiinoe   Indian   guide. 


ROUTES  AND  SCHEDULES       ,  31 

failed  to  return,  and  that  a  searching  party  had  found 
his  bones  and  parts  of  his  clothing.  Some  of  the  fel- 
lows remembered  having  read  about  it  in  the  news- 
paper. Whether  the  story  was  true  did  not  matter.  It 
so  impressed  our  party  that  we  kept  as  close  as  possi- 
ble. The  guide's  carrying  a  rifle  made  the  danger 
seem  more  real.  At  one  point  a  large  dog  sprang  from 
the  bushes,  and  the  boy  nearest  him  turned  a  deathly 
pallor. 

There  was  but"  a  small  open  space  at  the  Dells  con- 
sisting of  a  solid  bed  of  granite.  Upon  this  we  had  our 
camp-fire,  and  here,  too,  we  spread  our  blankets.  The 
sun  had  long  since  gone  down,  we  held  our  devotional 
meeting  and  soon  the  camp  was  quiet.  The  sky  was 
clear,  the  stars  very  bright,  the  air  as  crisp  and  re- 
freshing as  anything  could  be,  there  was  not  a  sound  to 
be  heard  except  the  constant  rush  and  roar  of  the  river, 
as  it  shot  over  the  great  boulders,  and  an  occasional 
faint  snore  from  one  quarter  or  another.  We  were 
not  long  in  going  to  sleep,  for  the  day  had  been  filled 
with  adventure. 

Near  midnight  we  were  awakened  by  loud,  trium- 
phant Ha,  ha,  ha's.  The  Ford  party  had  arrived, 
afoot,  loaded  with  things  for  next  day's  meals.  After 
all  but  wrecking  the  car  among  stumps,  logs,  bogs  and 
creeks,  and  nearly  exhausting  themselves  with  lifting 
and  pushing,  they  abandoned  it,  and  somehow  found 
an  Indian  to  guide  them  to  our  camp. 


32  THE  BIG  HIKE 

We  were  content  for  the  time  to  abide  by  the  ad- 
monition of  the  Good  Book — which  says,  ''Take  there- 
fore no  thought  for  the  morrow,  for  the  morrow  shall 
take  thought  for  the  things  of  itself."  We  had  had  a 
big  day,  and  we  were  up  with  the  schedule. 

Our  1920  trip  took  us  to  Mammoth  Cave,  Ky.  In 
making  out  the  schedule  we  were  careful  to  leave  a 
couple  of  days  free,  to  take  care  of  emergencies.  It 
was  fortunate  that  we  did  this,  for  one  of  the  ma- 
chines ground  out  its  bearings  the  first  forenoon,  and 
at  the  end  of  the  second  day  we  had  only  reached  the 
locality  intended  for  the  first  night.  Our  roads  and 
weather  had  been  perfect.  By  the  time  we  had 
reached  the  Ohio  river  we  had  made  up  our  loss  of 
time  and  were  a  trifle  ahead  of  the  schedule,  but  again 
lost  a  day  by  the  time  we  had  arrived  at  the  Caves, 
because  of  poor,  unmarked  roads,  a  heavy  rain  and 
consequent  mud,  and  slow  ferriages  over  Green  river. 

On  our  return  trip  from  the  Mammoth  Cave  we  had 
a  night's  camp  a  few  miles  north  of  Kentland,  Indiana. 
Our  host  and  hostess  in  whose  farm  lot  we  were  spend- 
ing the  night,  shared  in  the  fun  of  an  interesting  pro- 
gram about  the  camp  fire.  After  a  good  sleep  and  a 
hearty  breakfast,  we  were  leaving  for  Starved  Rock 
State  Park  in  Illinois,  about  135  miles  to  the  north- 
west, where  we  were  to  spend  the  night  and  the  next 
day. 

The  Packard,  with  the  Leader,  together  with  a  few 


ROUTES  AND  SCHEDULES 


83 


In   ?Iorseslioe  t'anon,   Starved  Kock. 


boys,  was  first  to  drive  out  on  to  the  public  highway, 
where  it  stopped  and  waited  for  the  Pierce-Arrow 
truck,  with  the  main  body  of  the  party  aboard,  to  take 
the  lead.  After  they  had  passed  we  found  ourselves 
unable  to  again  start  our  engine.  When  the  self- 
starter  failed  we  all  got  out  and  pushed  the  machine. 
Next  we  engaged  a  team  of  horses,  but  all  to  no  avail. 
We  'phoned  a  garage  at  Kentland  to  send  an  expert. 
To  make  a  long  story  short,  we  spent  the  balance  of 
the  day  at  a  repair  shop,  and  failed  utterly  to  locate 
the  Pierce-Arrow  party  by  long  distance  telephoning. 
They  waited  for  us  an  hour  or  two  at  Kankakee,  111., 
when  some  one  told  thm  they  had  seen  a  Packard  with 
flags,  passing.  You  may  depend  upon  it  some  one  will 
always  be  found  who  will  volunteer  any  information 

The  Big  Hike.      3. 


84  THE  BIG  HIKE 

you  may  want  on  any  subject,  drawing  from  pure  im- 
agination if  necessary.  The  boys  hurried  on,  and 
reached  their  destination  in  the  afternoon. 

As  for  the  Packard  crew,  we  were  not  Hberated  from 
the  shop  until  8:00  o'clock  that  evening.  We  told 
Andrew,  the  chaffeur,  we  would  leave  it  to  him, 
whether  to  put  up  at  once  for  the  night,  or  to  proceed 
some  distance  on  our  journey  before  turning  in.  He 
preferred  to  go  on.  At  Watseka  we  stopped  for  more 
repair  work,  and  then  took  to  the  road  again,  and  kept 
going  on,  all  through  the  night.  We  had  the  road  to 
ourselves,  and  the  unusual  drive  was  not  without  a 
certain  fascination. 

We  reached  the  camp  ground  at  Starved  Rock  at 
4:00  next  morning,  and  came  upon  the  boys,  all  of 
whom  were  sound  asleep. 

The  Packard  had  all  the  groceries  and  was  well 
supplied.  The  Leader  did  not  learn  until  long  after- 
ward, when  the  Annual  Big  Hike  Essays  came  in, 
that  the  Pierce  party  had  gone  supperless  to  bed,  and 
had  no  prospects  for  breakfast,  had  not  the  Packard 
arrived,  for  the  Big  Hike  had  come  so  near  its  end, 
the  boys  had  parted  with  nearly  all  of  their  spending 
money,  and  had  only  enough  left  to  buy  the  necessary 
gasoline,  and  a  few  rolls  which  they  had  eaten  for 
dinner. 

It  was  Sunday  morning.  We  all  donned  our  clean 
Sunday  clothes   and   our  boy   cooks   prepared   us   an 


ROUTES  AND  SCHEDULES 


35 


excellent  breakfast,  after  which  we  descended  the 
steep  precipice  above  which  we  were  encamped  and 
filed,  Indian  fashion,  across  the  hollow  and  up  to  the 
top  of  historic  and  picturesque  Starved  Rock,  where 
in  1682  Tonti,  the  Frenchman,  erected  Fort  St.  Louis 
and  flew  to  the  breeze  the  first  flag  to   wave  over 


Pulpit   Roek,   Starved   Rock   State  Park. 


a  white  settlement  in  the  Mississippi  Valley. 

Then  we  threaded  our  way  to  Pulpit  Rock  where 
we  climbed  to  the  top  and  had  our  Sunday  School  les- 
son. We  were  a  happy,  contented  lot,  having  had  a 
never-to-be-forgotten  trip  of  nearly  1,500  miles,  and 
with  all  its  ups  and  downs  we  were  entirely  up  to 
our  schedule. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Kach  Fellow  a  Task. 

ON  our  first  Big  Hil<:e  we  thought  that  work  w^ould 
be  as  interesting  to  the  boys  as  the  play  part 
of  the  outing,  and  that  the  boys  would  rally  about 
whenever  anything  needed  to  be  done,  but  we  found 
that  what  was  everybody's  job  was  nobody's  job. 
Since  then  we  have  started  on  our  journey  with  every 
member  of  the  party  knowing  just  what  was  expected 
of  him,  and  woe  to  him  if  he  failed  to  carry  his  part. 
Some  tasks  had  almost  no  work  connected  with  them. 
In  fact  there  are  cases  where  the  boy  w^as  not  called 
to  action  throughout  the  trip,  while  others  are  regu- 
larly at  work,  several  times  each  day.  A  job  once 
assigned  and  accepted,  the  boy  no  longer  is  treated 
as  a  mere  boy,  but  as  a  man,  with  the  same  responsi- 
bility that  an  adult  must  have,  if  he  ever  hopes  to 
succeed  in  life. 

In  addition  to  his  specific  job,  in  connection  with 
the  camp  life,  there  are  relations  with  the  public  in 
general  which  must  have  serious  consideration  also. 

36 


EACH  FELLOW  A   TASK 


37 


Before  starting  on  a  trip  we  hold  a  meeting  at  which 
we  call  attention  to  certain  general  rules,  somewhat 
as  follows: 

It  costs  nothing  to  be  polite  and  it  yields  good  re- 
turns. 

Do  not  make  fun  of  any  stranger,  nor  make  un- 


complimentary remarks  about  his  pokey  little  town, 
or  of  the  tiny  street  cars  which  look  sometimes  as  if 
they  had  been  in  service  since  the  days  of  Noah. 

Speak  only  of  the  good  you  see,  and  you  will  find 
them  inviting  you  to  come  again. 

If  you  misbehave  at  home,  you  are  blamed  indi- 
vidually, but  if  one  of  our  fellows  misbehaves  among 
strangers,  they  blame  our  entire  party.  On  the  other 
hand,  if  one  or  two  of  the  boys  should  get  off  by  them- 


38  THE  BIG  11  IKE 

selves  among  the  natives,  and  conduct  themselves  like 
gentlemen,  they  immediately  create  a  good  impression 
for  all  the  rest. 

The  farmer  or  fruit  grower  does  not  have  a  pay 
envelope  like  an  employee  in  the  city.  The  corn, 
vegetables  and  fruit  which  he  grows,  is  his  pay.  To 
take  them  without  his  permission  is  like  stealing  his 
money. 

Throughout  the  trip  the  fellows  need  to  be  reminded 
of  these  rules  time  and  again,  for  in  a  truck  load 
of  from  a  dozen  to  a  score  of  active  folks,  there  are 
tongues  and  voices  that  work  freely  without  thought. 
Something  may  be  said  which  gets  the  party  ''in  bad" 
before  anybody  is  aware  of  it. 

Our  various  camp  duties  are  assigned  about  as  fol- 
lows: 

Chauffeitrs:  one  or  two  older  fellows  for  each  auto- 
mobile. 

Mechanics:  assist  the  chauffers  in  the  care  of  the  car. 

Trailer  Couplers:  two  boys  who  attach  or  detach  the 
trailmobile  when  this  needs  to  be  done. 

The  Baggagemen  load  the  baggage  upon  the  trucks, 
and  unload  it  when  camp  is  reached  for  the  night. 
No  suit  cases  or  trunks  are  taken.  The  bed  roll  with 
its  two  or  three  blankets  contains  also  the  extra  cloth- 
ing, and  the  whole  is  either  wrapped  in  water-proof 
canvas  and  strapped  or  placed  in  a  bag,  to  keep  the 
contents  clean.     The  boj^s  ride  on  the  pile  of  baggage 


EACH  FELLOW  A  TASK 


39 


Bringing  in  wood. 


SO  nothing  breakable  is  carried.  Each  carries  a 
separate  haversack  n  which  he  has  the  knife,  fork, 
spoon,  metal  plate,  tin-cup,  tooth  brush,  towel,  soap, 
etc.,  and  each  fellow  takes  care  of  his  haversack  inde- 
pendently of  the  baggageman. 

The  Artificer  carries  needles,  thread,  buttons,  etc. 
to  repair  clothing,  shoes,  etc. 

Color  Sergeants  keep  the  flags  in  place  throughout 
the  day  and  take  them  down  for  the  night.  Old  Glory 
in  various  ways  has  a  wholesome  influence  on  the 
Big  Hike  party  and  the  people  we  meet  enroute.  In 
addition  to  the  patriotic  thrill  it  has  a  special  use 
as  it  flies  above  each  of  the  wagons  or  autos,  for  at 
a  glance  you  are  able  to  recognize  the  vehicle  of  your 
party,  —  sometimes  your  cars  are  mingled  with  scores 


40  THE  BIO  HIKE 

of  others,  and  again,  out  in  the  country,  your  machines 
become  separated,  and  the  fhitter  of  the  flag  on  a 
distant  auto,  is  notice  that  it  is  part  of  your  party. 

Hospitality.  Those  assigned  to  this  duty  should  be 
boys  who  can  meet  strangers  with  ease.  They  carry 
extra  cups,  plates,  etc.,  for  serving  chance  visitors  at 
meal  time,  sometimes  the. farmer  and  his  wife  near 
whose  farm  we  are  stopping,  or  others  camping  near 
you  come  to  see  how  the  cooking  is  done.  At  Grant 
Park,  Chicago,  many  of  our  guests  were  evidently 
hoboes,  and  the  hospitality  boys'  business  picked  up 
at  an  alarming  rate,  both  among  whites  and  negroes, 
but  they  fed  all  comers,  and  who  knows  but  that  they 
were  entertaining  angels  unawares. 

Newspaper  Reporters  each  day  send  a  letter  to  the 
home  papers  so  that  the  home  folks  may  follow  the 
fortunes  of  the  party.  Besides,  it  is  excellent  practice 
for  those  who  do  the  reporting. 

Doctors  carry  first  aid  materials,  bandages,  iodine, 
epsom  salts,  cold  cream,  and  other  things  calculated 
to  relieve  suffering  humanity.  A  doctor  has  numerous 
calls  when  with  a  party  of  one  or  two  score  of  boys. 

The  following  are  a  few  examples,  copied  verbatim 
from  the  Diary  of  one  of  our  ''Doctors",  viz: 

June  3,  1917.  Leslie  — .  I  used  peroxide  on  a  cut 
in  his  finger. 

Floyd  — .  I  used  salve  and  plaster  on  his  burnt 
finger. 


EACH  FELLOW  A  TASK  41 

John  — .     He  wanted  a  seidlitz  powder. 

Harold  — .  I  used  salve,  bandage  and  plaster  on 
his  sore  finger. 

George  — .  I  used  salve,  cotton  and  plaster  on  a 
boil. 

Emery  — .     I  used  plaster  on  a  sore  on  his  lip. 

Edwin  — .     Wanted  cotton  for  a  sore  on  his  toe." 

Stvim  Tester.  No  one  is  permitted  to  enter  a  stream 
or  lake  until  the  Swim  Tester  has  pronounced  it  safe. 
There  is  no  other  rule  upon  which  we  place  so  much 
emphasis.  All  "swimming  holes"  are  strange  to  us 
away  from  home,  and  one  cannot  afford  to  be  careless 
in  so  important  a  matter.  This  rule  is  relaxed  only 
at  regular  public  bathing  beaches. 

We  do  not  care  whether  the  Swim  Tester  can  swim. 
Rescuing  drowning  boys  is  not  his  special  job.  It 
is  for  him  to  locate  the  bottom.  If  there  is  too  much 
depth  or  too  swift  a  current,  keep  away  from  it.  Fool- 
hardy ''stunts"  in  the  water  should  be  postponed 
until  the  trip  is  at  an  end.  Everywhere  we  have  been 
able  to  find  safe  swimming  and  bathing  —  as  safe  as 
the  pool  inside  the  "Y",  and  in  fifteen  years,  we  have 
not  lost  a  boy,  and  have  had  but  one  case  of  danger, 
when  a  boy  got  beyond  his  depth  in  a  current  which 
he  was  unable  to  stem  and  some  of  the  fellows  had 
to  swim  out  and  help  him  back  to  shore. 

Water  Carriers  bring  all  the  water  necessary  for 
cooking  and  for  the  kettleman. 


42 


THE  BIG  HIKE 


Wood  Carriers  bring  fuel  for  cooking  purposes.  If 
a  large  bonfire  is  wanted,  the  entire  party  joins  in 
bringing  the  wood. 

Cooks.  Four  to  six  boys  will  do  the  cooking  for  a 
party  of  30  to  50.     No  previous  experience  is  neces- 


-■-.^^^^i^i^^H^^^^  ■  - 


Water   carriers    on   the   job. 

sary,  but  the  Leader  should  be  able  to  direct  them. 
Most  boys  have  some  knowledge  of  the  subject  which 
they  have  learned  in  the  home  kitchen.  It  is  the  height 
of  folly  to  employ  a  professional  cook  for  the  Big  Hike. 
It  is  not  only  unnecessary,  but  what  is  more  important, 
it  deprives  the  boys  of  this  very  choice  opportunity 
for  service. 

Fireman.     He  should  be  prompt  in  having  the  hot- 
test fire  in  the  shortest  time  possible,  and  continue 


EACH  FELLOW  A  TASK  43 

his  service  throughout  the  cooking  period.  When  serv- 
ing a  large  party  with  French  toast,  for  instance,  or 
bacon  and  eggs  the  cooks  require  a  good  bed  of  glowing 
coals. 

The  Kettleman  provides  himself  with  a  good  bristle 
brush  and  soap  or  soda,  and  cleans  the  buckets  and 
frying  pans  after  every  meal.  We  have  no  dishwash- 
ers, for  every  fellow  washes  his  own  plate  and  utensils. 

Commissary  boys  go  with  the  Leader  when  purchas- 
ing supplies,  and  carry  them  to  the  truck  and  pack 
them  safely  away. 

The  Steiuard  repacks  the  cooking  outfit  and  food 
supplies  after  the  meal  is  over,  and  the  kettlemen  have 
finished  their  work. 

The  Auditor  keeps  account  of  all  expenditures,  as 
they  are  made,  and  after  the  return  home  makes  up 
a  report.  The  following  summary  is  from  the  report 
of  a  boy  Auditor,  and  gives  an  idea  of  the  items  used 
on  a  trip  of  thirteen  days,  with  thirty-seven  in  the 
party.     We  had  no  expense  for  rental  of  autos. 

Summary. 
"The  Ford  car  (carrying  five  persons  and  their  bag- 
gage) consumed  on  the  trip  of  1,000  miles,  77  gallons 
of  gasoline. 

The  Packard  (carrying  eight  persons  and  baggage) 
used  112  gallons  of  gasoline. 

The  Pierce-Arrow    (a  made-over)    truck  and  trail- 


44  THE  BIG  HIKE 

mobile  used  176  gallons  of  gasoline.     (This  outfit  car- 
ried 24  boys  and  their  baggage). 

Cost  per  person,  meals,  etc.,  per  day $     .464 

Cost  per  person,  meals  for  the  trip 6.04 

Cost  per  person,  transportation   4.27 

Total  cost  per  person  per  day 795 

Total  cost  per  person  for  the  trip 10.32 

Average  daily  expenses 29.37  fl 

Total  cost  of  the  trip,  13  days 381.87 

Items  of  Food. 

191  loaves  of  bread.  j 

6  doz.  buns.  ' 
10  pies.  j 
9  doz.  cookies,  6  doz.  doughnuts.  i 
52  cans  condensed  milk.  \ 
91.5  pounds  of  meat,  as  follows: 

241/1.  lbs.  wienies. 

38  lbs.  minced  ham. 

15  lbs.  steak  and  bacon. 

15  lbs.  beef  ribs. 
43  doz.  eggs. 
6%  lbs.  cheese. 
56  cans  pork  and  beans. 
12  cans  salmon. 
15  cans  peas. 
24  lbs.  lard. 

7  boxes  noodles. 

17  lbs  soda  crackers. 


EACH   FELLOW  A   TASK 


4(5 


2  cans  tomatoes. 
4  jars  pickles. 

1  bushel  apples. 

2  bushels  potatoes. 
16  cans  Karo  syrup. 
56  lunches  at  cafes. 
15  lemons. 

7  oranges. 
14  lbs.  coffee. 
10  lbs.  cornmeal. 
One  bar  of  soap." 

Camp  Police  clear  the  camp  of  all  rubbish,  whether 
scattered  about  by  their  own  fellows  or  by  others. 
It  must  never  be  said  of  a  Big  Hike  party  that  they 
left  an  untidy  camp.  They  should  aid  in  setting  a 
good  example  to  other  campers. 


On   the   Bia-   Hike. 


46  THE  BIG  HIKE 

We  used  to  carry  a  small  collection  of  books,  a 
phonograph,  base  ball  outfit,  some  band  instruments 
and  song  books.  We  still  take  some  of  these,  and  a 
boy  or  two  is  assigned  to  the  care  of  each.  A  choris- 
ter and  program  committee  too,  are  among  the  func- 
tionaries. The  Captain  of  the  Guard  makes  up  the 
list  of  those  who  stand  guard,  in  one  hour  reliefs,  all 
through  the  night.  It  is  only  under  some  unusual 
condition  that  the  party  feels  it  is  unsafe  to  be  without 
a  guard.  Almost  without  exception  the  boys  are  keen 
for  this  service,  and  the  Captain  finds  himself  thronged 
with  volunteers.  During  the  first  few  years,  when  we 
used  horses,  we  carried  a  Springfield  army  rifle  or 
two  (but  never  any  ammunition)  to  be  carried  by 
the  guards,  and  we  would  have  guards  every  night 
of  the  trip. 

In  all  the  above,  where  as  many  as  three  or  m.ore  are 
assigned  to  the  same  task,  one  should  be  named  as 
Chief,  so  that  the  Leader  may  know  instantly  where 
to  locate  responsibility. 

There  is  one  dignity,  however,  that  is  not  appointive. 
The  entire  membership  of  the  party  has  within  its  own 
control  the  nomination  and  election  of  a  Council,  which 
settles  matters  of  discipline.  The  Council  has  five 
members,  and  elects  its  own  chairman  and  secretary. 
The  very  dread  of  this  august  body  is  enough  to  keep  ?. 
boy  on  the  straight  path  of  rectitude,  for  what  penalty 
might  not  the  Council  exact?    A  mild  case  of  wrong- 


EACH  FELLOW  A  TASK 


47 


For  discipline's  sake.      Thrown   in,   clothes   and  all. 


doing  may  call  for  a  ducking  in  some  convenient 
stream  or  puddle,  into  which  the  offender  is  thrown, 
clothes  and  all,  with  scant  ceremony,  or  if  there  is  no 
water,  a  thorough  dust  bath  is  given.  Syrup  mixed 
with  earth  has  been  used  as  a  dressing  for  the  hair. 
In  one  instance,  where  the  milder  forms  of  treatment 
had  no  effect,  the  Council  in  its  wisdom  administered 
an  anointing  of  what  in  commerce  is  called  ''600  W 
differential  grease."  It  is  a  black  grease,  and  the  un- 
fortunate violator  was  thoroughly  smeared  from  his 
waist  up — his  face  and  hair,  as  well  as  his  body.  He 
tried  to  wash  it  off  in  the  river,  but  this  only  made  it 
worse.  After  riding  for  miles  in  the  sun,  a  horrible 
object,  he  secured  some  gasoline  during  the  noon  stop. 


48 


THE  BW   HIKE 


and  by  its  use  emerged  from  his  slippery  coating  a 
wiser  and  a  better  young  man. 

Lastly,  the  party  must  have  a  Leader  whose  author- 
ity is  undisputed,,  one  who  permits  the  greatest  free- 
dom, and  exhibits  his  authority  only  when  the  situa- 
tion demands  it;  one  who  may  order  any  one  to  leave 
the  party  if  necessary.  But  in  the  fifteen  years  that 
we  have  enjoyed  the  Big  Hike,  with  hundreds  of  differ- 
ent boys,  we  have  never  had  any  trouble  to  speak  of, 
and  certainly  no  occasion  for  any  extreme  measures. 
The  Leader  will  also  find  himself  called  upon  to  act  as 
a  depositary  for  the  boys'  spending  money.  The  boys 
draw  it  out  a  dollar  or  so  at  a  time,  as  the  trip  pro- 
gresses. 

Do  not  make  the  mistake  of  permitting  some  out- 
sider to  travel  with  you,  on  the  ground  that  he  will  be 
a  useful  man  in  camp.  Every  job  a  boy  holds  is  an 
educational  opportunity.  Your  greatest  temptation, 
perhaps,  will  be  to  engage  a  skilled  cook. 


CHAPTER  V. 


Cookery. 

THE  cooking  outfit  is  of  the  lightest  and  simplest. 
The  kitchen  at  home,  with  its  up-to-date  assort- 
ment of  pots,  kettles  and  pans,  gave  us  the  idea  that 
we  too  must  have  quite  a  variety  of  these,  so  we 
started  off  years  ago  with  a  coffee  pot,  dish  pan,  some 
smaller  pans,  buckets  and  frying  pans.  One  by  one 
they  dropped  off,  until  we  had  learned  that  we  needed 
only  the  last  two  named,  viz.,  buckets  and  frying  pans. 
To  these  we  add  a  butcher  knife,  dipper,  a  few  pan- 
cake turners,  a  big  spoon  or  two  and  a  can  opener. 
We  use  galvanized  buckets  of  the  12  and  14  quart  size, 
and  the  frying  pans  are  IQi/^  inches  in  diameter  at 
the  bottom.  The  complete  outfit,  ample  for  all  the 
needs  of  a  party  of  forty  or  fifty  persons,  weighs  only 
about  30  pounds.  It  would  include,  say  six  or  seven 
buckets  and  about  five  frying  pans. 

The  intent  is  that  three  times  a   day,  at  least, — 
breakfast,  dinner  and  supper,  each  shall  have  all  the 


49 


The  Big  Hike.     4. 


50 


THE  BIG  HIKE 


The  complete  cocking  outfit. 


food  and  drink  he  desires.  Many  boys  in  addition  to 
this,  use  their  spending  money  for  sodas,  candy,  etc., 
at  the  various  places  along  the  way  where  we  stop  for 
gasoline,  groceries  or  sightseeing. 

It  is  difficult  always  to  estimate  accurately  what  the 
party  will  consume  for  a  meal,  and  we  have  sometimes 
underestimated  the  Big  Hike  appetite,  but  the  rule  has 
been  that  we  prepared  more  than  we  could  consume, 
with  the  result  that  some  food  was  wasted. 


I 


COOKERY 


51 


A  methodical  leader  would  probably  prepare  a  menu 
in  advance,  for  the  entire  trip,  but  we  have  generally 
waited  for  our  appetite  to  suggest  what  the  next  meal 
should  be,  and  almost  without  exception  when  the  pro- 
posed bill  of  fare  was  put  to  a  vote  there  would  be  a 
unanimous  chorus  of  "Fine." 

The  camp  fire  is  always  an  object  of  fascination, 
whether  it  be  just  a  tiny  flame  with  its  curling  column 
of  smoke,  or  a  big  roaring  fire.  It  is  vastly  more  in- 
teresting to  a  lot  of  hungry  hikers  when  within  its 
embrace,  a  good  meal  is  being  prepared.  We  do  not 
hang  our  buckets  over  the  fire,  but  set  them  in  the 
midst  of  the  burning  wood,  with  the  flames  snapping 
all  around  them. 

This  country  of  ours  has  a  great  wealth  of  fuel;  so 
abundant  is  the  supply  that  our  people  seem  never  to 


At   Grant  Park,   Chicago. 


&2  THE  BIG  HIKE 

think  about  its  conservation.  People  living  near  the 
forest  burn  coal  because  they  can  get  it  so  much  more 
easily.  An  American  traveling  in  Europe  is  surprised 
to  see  every  branch  of  a  tree,  no  matter  how  small, 
carefully  gathered  and  added  to  the  fuel  supply. 
Scarcely  a  twig  the  size  of  a  toothpick  escapes  them, 
while  in  our  country,  the  wood-chopper  saves  only  the 
trunk  and  larger  branches,  and  it  is  always  a  matter  of 
special  agreement  whether  the  employer  or  the  em- 
ployee is  to  burn  the  brush.  Practically  every  wood 
lot,  whether  it  be  a  small  grove  planted  on  the  prairie 
as  a  wind-break  for  the  residence  and  live-stock,  or 
whether  it  be  a  native  forest,  is  littered  with  dead 
branches  or  fallen  trees,  which  the  owner  of  the  lot  is 
glad  to  have  removed.  All  the  Big  Hike  woodman 
needs  to  do  is  to  politely  ask  permission,  and  to  prom- 
ise that  he  will  be  careful  of  fences  in  bringing  out 
the  wood.  He  needs  no  ax,  for  the  wood  is  dry  and 
can  be  broken,  if  desired,  into  proper  lengths.  Ordi- 
narily an  ax  is  not  as  necessary  a  hike  tool  as  one  would 
think.  It  often  provides  a  cause  of  concern  for  the 
leader,  lest  a  boy  use  it  in  damaging  valuable  trees  or 
shrubbery,  and  calling  down  upon  his  head  the  right- 
eous wrath  of  the  owner  or  caretaker.  In  fact  we  have 
made  a  number  of  Big  Hikes  having  neither  axe  nor 
hatchet  with  us,  and  never  felt  the  need  of  them. 

The  ''full  dinner  pail"  or  a  ''square  meal"  sounds 
good,  especially  for  an  out-of-doors  appetite.     What  is 


COOKERY  53 

a  good  square  meal?  Our  answer  probably  would  be 
according  to  our  bringing-up.  Once  upon  a  time,  when 
abroad,  the  writer  observed  a  group  of  Bohemian  rail- 
road laborers  at  their  breakfasts  and  suppers.  Bread 
and  coffee  made  up  the  entire  meal.  Each  had  his  own 
loaf  of  bread  from  which  he  whittled  as  he  ate.  There 
was  no  lard,  butter  nor  anything  as  a  relish  with  the 
bread,  only  the  dark  bread;  and  coffee,  with  milk  and 
sugar  in  it.  Judging  by  their  usual  jolly  nature,  clear 
healthy  complexions  and  strong  limbs,  they  were  en- 
joying each  his  square  meal.  Their  noon-day  meal 
doubtless  was  mainly  meat-and-vegetable  stew.  You 
will  recall  a  well-known  painting  showing  a  family 
reverently  gathered  about  their  dining  table,  each 
with  a  small  bowl,  and  a  larger  bowl  gracing  the  cen- 
ter of  the  table.  Their  square  meal  would  be  found  in 
the  large  single  bowl.  All  this  is  another  way  of  say- 
ing that  our  common  American  standard  of  meals  is 
not  a  real  necessity,  viz.,  a  bit  of  this  and  some  of  that, 
in  variety; — soup,  meat,  vegetables,  salad,  bread  and 
butter  , dessert  and  drink,  all  at  one  sitting. 

Let  us  take  a  Big  Hike  situation.  You  had  break- 
fast at  7 :00.  It  is  now  noon.  Five  hours  have  passed, 
during  which  you  have  covered  considerable  ground. 
You  have  been  chattering,  singing,  boxing,  or  dodging 
other  boys'  boxing,  or  scuffling,  and  taking  in  strange 
sights.  You  have  reached  a  place  where  there  is  a 
plenty  of  wood  for  cooking,  and  water  is  not  far  away 


54  THE  BIG  HIKE 

— perhaps  a  farm  house  with  its  well  is  near.  Better 
still,  you  have  stopped  at  a  creek,  for  there  you  find 
trees  and  fire  wood,  and  if  there  is  no  well  you  use 
water  from  the  creek.  In  a  few  minutes  of  time  you 
see  coffee  or  cocoa  boiling  in  the  buckets;  in  another 
bucket  or  two  you  see  cans  of  pork  and  beans,  and  the 
cooks  have  cut  the  bread — not  as  mother  slices  it — but 
each  loaf  cut  into  five  equal  parts.  Open  a  can  of  the 
hot  beans — two  fellows  to  a  can — take  a  chunk  of 
bread,  and  with  the  hot  drink  the  square  meal  is  at 
hand.  All  problems  of  under-nourishment  and  the 
''balanced  ration"  have  vanished.  Peas  taken  from  the 
can,  boiled  with  some  canned  milk  and  seasoned  with 
salt,  or  creamed  corn  treated  the  same  way,  is  good. 
Our  band  remembers  a  time  at  Starved  Rock  (Illi- 
nois) State  Park,  when  Chief  Cook  Luther  was  shak- 
ing pepper  over  the  boiling  bucket  of  corn,  the  lid  un- 
expectedly came  off  the  pepper  can,  and  no  one  ate 
corn  that  day.  Had  it  not  been  for  other  eatables, 
there  would  have  been  another  story  of  the  Starved 
Rock  kind. 

These  days  one  can  get  a  wide  variety  of  meats,  veg- 
etables and  fish  in  cans  of  all  sizes.  Bakery  goods  are 
to  be  had  along  the  beaten  paths,  and  corn  meal  or 
wheat  flour  can  easily  be  carried  for  points  where 
there  are  no  bakeries. 

The  best  beans  we  have  ever  tasted  were  navy  beans 
bought  by  the  half  peck  and  boiled  in  our  own  camp, 


COOKERY 


55 


but  it  takes  hours  of  time,  and  on  a  Big  Hike,  time  is 
precious  for  other  pursuits. 

We  sometimes  boil  a  lot  of  potatoes  with  jackets  on, 
so  as  to  have  them  for  supper  and  enough  left  over 
for  fried  potatoes  for  breakfast,  which  with   either 


Meal  time.      Tennessee  Beach   on   Lake   Michigan,    Holland,   Mich. 

bacon  or  eggs,  or  both,  will  give  a  fellow  a  good  start 
for  the  day's  work. 

One  of  our  best  meals  is  French  toast,  syrup  and 
coffee.  We  generally  have  this  for  breakfast.  We 
stir  up  a  lot  of  eggs,  add  milk  and  salt,  and  then 
enough  water  so  you  will  have  enough  to  go  'round. 
Into  this  you  dip  a  slice  of  bread — like  mother  slices 
it — and  fry  it  in  hot,  sizzling  lard  so  there  is  no  danger 
of  it  sticking  to  the  bottom  of  the  frying  pan,  fry  over 
a  good  hot  bed  of  coals.  When  it  is  a  beautiful  brown. 


56  THE  BIG  HIKE 

turn  it  over,  and  get  it  brown  on  that  side  also.  Your 
gang  is  in  line  waiting  their  turn  to  be  served.  As 
each  is  served  he  passes  on  to  where  a  young  gentle- 
man is  presiding  over  the  syrup-can.  When  he  has 
supplied  your  wants,  you  receive  a  helping  of  coffee 
and  are  ready  to  find  a  seat  somewhere  beside  a  group 
of  chums,  and  proceed  with  the  meal.    You  return  for 

more  toast,  round  after  round,  until  you  are  fully  sat- 
isfied. 

Serving  food  direct  from  the  boiling  kettle  or  the 
frying  pan,  gets  it  to  the  boy  when  it  is  in  its  best 
possible  condition.  The  best  food  when  allowed  to  get 
cold  before  it  is  served  often  loses  all  the  excellence 
which  it  otherwise  would  have  had. 

When  everyone  has  been  served  once,  the  cooks  take 
a  turn  at  eating,  and  volunteer  cooks  take  their  places 
to  serve  others  the  second  or  third  helping.  The  writ- 
er's appetite  is  satisfied  fully  with  about  three  fine,  fat 
slices.  One  time  he  and  Julius  were  eating  side  by 
side,  and  he  asked,  ''How  do  you  like  French  toast?" 
'Tine,"  replied  Julius,  "this  is  my  seventh  piece,  and  on 
the  first  morning  out  I  ate  twelve." 

Corn  on  the  cob,  fish  fresh  from  the  stream,  steaks, 
chops,  and  other  toothsome  dishes,  too  numerous  to 
mention  here,  are  among  the  opportunities  of  the  Big 
Hike  cook.  We  avoid  dishes  which  require  a  long  time 
for  preparation.     Our  cooks  never  miss  any  sight-see- 


COOKERY 


57 


Hero  worshippers  surround  the  chief   cook. 


ing.  Their  work  is  done  speedily  and  very  efficiently. 
It  is  one  of  the  proudest  jobs  of  all. 

The  following  gives  the  bill  of  fare  as  served  on  our 
1923  trip,  viz. : 

First  day   (Aug.  17),  lunches  brought  by  the  boys 

from  their  homes. 

Aug.  IS.  Breakfast :  BacoD,  eggs,  bread  and  coffee. 

Liiiiclieon  :     Buns,  pressed  veal,  a  pint  of  milk  each. 
Supper :     Boiled  potatoes,  fraukforters,  bread  and  cocoa. 

Aug.  19.  Breakfas't:  French  toast,  syrup,  coffee. 

Lunch :  Minced  ham  sandwiches,  apples,  water  to  drink. 

Supper :  Boiled  potatoes,  creamed  peas,  bread,  cocoa. 
Aug.  20.  Breakfast :  Bacon  and  eggs,  fried  potatoes,  bread,  coffee. 

Lunch :    Salmon,  pickles,  buns,   doughnuts,   water. 

Supper  :     Wienies\  bread,  lemon-orangeade. 
Aug.  21.  Breakfast:    French    toast,    syrup,    coffee. 

Lunch :   Buns,  cheese  and  apples. 
Supper :     Eggs,  bacon,  bread,  cocoa. 


58  THE  BIG  HIKE 

Aug.  22.  Breakfast :   Crackers,  while  drivint:  along. 
Lunch :    French    toast,    syrnp,    coffee. 
Supper :     Potatoes  m  jackets,  sausage,  bread,  cocoa  . 

Aug.  28.  Breakfast :   Fried  potatoes,   fried  eggs,  bread,   coffee. . 

Lunch :    Boiled    ham,    tomatoes,    rolls,    bread,    cocoanut, 

tarts. 
Supper:  Creamed  peas,  l)read,  cocoa. 

Aug.  24.  Breakfast :    French   toast,   syrup,   coffee. 

Lunch,     Minced  ham  and  cheese  s^mdwiches,  pickles. 
Supper :     Boiled  potatoes,  wienies,  bread,  honey,  cocoa. 

Aug.  25.  Breakfast :  Fried  pototoes,  eggs,  bread,  honey,  coffee. 

Lunch :    Shredded   wheat   biscuits,    pint    milk    each,    cup 

cake,  doughnuts-. 
Supper:     Potato  soup,  containing  noodles,  cabbage,  eggs, 
etc.,  lu'ead. 

Aug.  20.  Breakfast :   French   toast,   syrup,   coffee. 
Lunch  :  Beans,  salmon,  bread,  water. 
Supper:  Canned  corn,  bread,  cocoa,  and  left  overs. 

Aug,  27.  Breakfast :  Bacon,  eggs,  bread,  coff"ee. 
Lunch  :      ( no  record ) . 
Supper :  Frankforters,  ])read  cocoa. 

Aug.  28.  Breakfast :  Bacon,  eggs,  bread,  coffee. 

Lunch :   Pea   soup,  bread,  syrup,   water. 
Supper :    Hamburgers,   onions,  mustard,   boiled  potatoes, 
bread,  cocoa, 

Aug.  20.  Breakfast :  Fried  potatoes,  eggs-,  bread,  coffee. 
Lunch :    Sugar-rolls,  bananas,  bread,  water. 
Supper :   Corn,  minced  ham  sandwiches,  bread,  cocoa. 

Aug.  30.  Breakfast :   French  toast,  syrup,  coffee. 
Lunch:      (no  record). 
Supper      (no  record). 

Aug.  31.  Breakfast :  Bacon,  eggs,  bread,  coffee. 

Lunch :     Bolls-,  ham,  apples,  water. 

Supper:  Party  was  divided,  one  truck  load  arriving 
home,  the  other,  without  groceries,  had  bread,  and  a 
lot  of  pigeons  which  were  donated  l>y  their  host. 


COOKERY  59 

With  the  appetite  common  to  the  out-of-door  life, 
each  of  the  meals  mentioned  above  seems  like  a  verit- 
able banquet.  We  would  not  have  been  so  sure  of  this 
were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  the  Black  Hawk  Hiking 
Club,  made  up  of  discriminating  ladies  and  men,  use 
practically  the  identical  menu  as  above,  and  find  it 
quite  sufficient.  They,  too,  have  their  annual  Big 
Hike,  the  same  as  the  boys. 

For  a  party  of  twenty-five  to  thirty  boys  we  make 
up  about  twelve  quarts  of  coffee,  using  a  half-pound  of 
ground  coffee.  As  most  of  the  fellows  like  it  with  milk 
and  sugar,  these  are  put  in  before  we  begin  to  serve  it. 
What  is  left  after  the  meal  is  thrown  away,  and  the 
next  lot  is  made  of  new  materials.  Do  not  try  to  make 
good  coffee  from  a  cheap  grade.  Always  insist  on  the 
better  grades. 

We  do  not  remember  ever  seeing  two  persons  making 
cocoa  according  to  the  same  recipe.  Each  has  his  own 
way.  Our  fellows  make  it  by  mixing  four  or  five 
ounces  of  cocoa,  dry,  with  nearly  a  pound  of  sugar. 
When  thoroughly  mixed  it  is  stirred  into  about  twelve 
quarts  of  water  and  brought  to  a  boil.  We  have  al- 
ways believed  that  the  longer  it  boils,  the  better,  but 
our  patience  rarely  holds  out  beyond  five  minutes. 
Then  we  add  two  or  three  one-pound  cans  of  con- 
densed milk,  and  it  is  ready  to  be  served.  One  needs 
to  observe  that  good  cocoa  cannot  be  made  with  scanty 
portions  of  either  cocoa,  sugar  or  milk. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
Devotionals. 

TEACHING  the  Scriptures  is  the  self-imposed 
task  of  Christendom.  How  to  get  the  message 
"across"  has  occupied  the  attention  of  some  of  our  best 
educators,  and  many  volumes  have  been  written  on  the 
subject. 

We  would  no  doubt  agree  that  the  human  touch,  in 
connection  with  the  teaching,  gives  better  results  than 
to  carry  on  a  correspondence  course.  Granted  that  the 
teacher  is  what  he  should  be,  a  close  relationship  be- 
tween teacher  and  pupil  would  bring  about  the  best  re- 
sults. 

The  humble  Nazarene,  our  Saviour,  took  the  Big 
Hike  method,  if  we  may  say  it.  His  particular  class, 
the  twelve,  hiked  with  Him.  They  sensed  His  reaction 
to  every  kind  of  condition.  Together  they  hungered 
and  plucked  the  ears  from  the  grain  as  it  stood  in  the 
fields;  they  ate  and  relieved  their  hunger.  They  slept 
in  the  open  under  the  stars ;  doubtless  they  knew  what 

60 


DEV0TI0NAL8 


61 


TIk'  author  and  party  at  the  ''Little  Brown  Church  in  the  Vale,"'  near  Xashua,  Iowa. 


it  was  to  be  chilled  to  the  bone,  and  to  be  drenched  to 
the  skin  with  rain.  They  knew  the  terror  of  the  awful 
storms  and  the  pleasure  of  a  meal  prepared  over  the 
open  fire  beside  the  lake.  Mountain  and  plain,  fertile 
fields  and  desert,  lake  and  stream  were  theirs.  He 
speaks  of  flowers  and  birds.  They  learned  to  know 
inhospitality  to  such  an  extent  that  even  John,  the  Be- 
loved, suggested  that  fire  be  called  down  to  consume 
the  unfeeling  cities.  Banqueted  at  one  place,  their 
lives  threatened  at  another,  praise  and  popularity,  con- 
tempt and  mockery,  triumphal  procession,   crown  of 


62  THE  BIG  HIKE 

thorns,  shameful  death  and  victorious  resurrection, — 
all  these  were  shared  with  the  twelve,  and  every  fibre 
of  their  being  absorbed  His  personality,  His  message. 

It  is  definitely  stated  that  often  the  Twelve  did  not 
understand  His  ivords.  They  did  not  grasp  their 
meaning.  But  they  learned  to  know  the  power  which 
ruled  His  conduct,  from  the  conduct  itself,  and  when 
He  had  ascended  to  His  Father,  the  way  was  so  plain 
to  them  that  like  Him,  they  gave  their  lives  to  the  new 
dispensation. 

Our  army  of  Sunday-school  teachers  is  a  very  large 
one.  It  outnumbers  the  officers  and  men  of  our  stand- 
ing army  and  navy,  ten  to  one.  That  its  work  is  of 
first  importance  to  both  the  individual  and  to  the  na- 
tion, is  attested  by  our  leading  men  and  women;  our 
chief  executive  at  Washington  places  decided  emphasis 
upon  the  subject.  To  make  its  work  more  effective  is 
the  perennial  problem  of  its  leaders. 

Teaching  the  lesson  in  the  class-room  is  hardly  as 
effective  as  living  it  in  the  presence  of  the  class.  It  is 
very  difficult  for  most  of  us  to  teach  a  vitalizing  gos- 
pel unless  we  supplement  our  class  teaching  with  some 
kind  of  contact  outside  the  class-room — some  week- 
day activities.  Living  together  under  the  same  roof 
or  in  the  same  camp  for  days  or  weeks  at  a  time  gives 
this  needed  contact. 

On  our  annual  Big  Hikes  each  boy  selects  a  topic 
with   Scriptural   reference,    and   is   assigned   a   night 


DEVOTIONALS 


63 


when  he  will  discuss  his  topic  about  the  camp  fire.  Us- 
ually it  is  necessary  to  have  more  than  one  boy  on  the 
program  of  talks  in  order  that  every  member  of  the 
party  may  be  heard. 

A  text  can  often  be  suited  to  the  place  which  has 


"He  leadeth  me  beside  still  waters."     Lake   Geneva,   "Wis. 

been  scheduled  for  an  overnight  camp.  ''I  will  lift  up 
mine  eyes  unto  the  hills,  from  whence  cometh  my 
help,"  or,  ''Lovest  thou  me  more  than  these?"  which 
scene  originally  occurred  beside  a  lake.  ''He  maketh 
me  to  lie  down  in  green  pastures ;  He  leadeth  me  beside 
the  still  waters ;  He  restoreth  my  soul,  yea,  though  I 
walk  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  I  will 
fear  no  evil,  for  thou  are  with  me."  "When  I  consider 
thy  heavens,  the  moon  and  stars  which  thou  hast  or- 


64  THE  BIG  HIKE 

clained,  what  is  man  that  thou  art  mindful  of  him?" 
But  of  course  we  do  not  make  any  attempt  to  choose 
every  text  to  fit  into  natural  surroundings.  ''Watch 
ye,  stand  fast  in  the  faith,  quit  you  like  men,  be  strong," 
and,  *'Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth,"  and,  ''Submit  your 
bodies  a  living  sacrifice,  holy,  acceptable  unto  God, 
which  is  your  reasonable  service,"  are  but  a  few  and, 
as  a  rule,  the  Scripture  for  the  last  night  of  the  outing 
calls  attention  to  our  own  good  qualities  as  fellows 
who  stick  together  and  see  a  thing  through,  namely,  "I 
have  fought  a  good  fight,  I  have  finished  my  course,  I 
have  kept  the  faith."  We  always  carry  extra  clothes  to 
be  worn  to  Sunday-school,  but  if  the  distance  is  too  great 
we  have  the  Sunday  service  in  our  camp,  hymns,  in- 
struction, collection  and  all. 

The  Big  Hike  knows  no  regular  hours.  Spark  plugs, 
punctures  and  blowouts,  detours,  and  other  causes  are 
likely  any  time  to  delay  us,  or  we  may  spend  more  time 
or  less  on  some  point  of  interest,  but  the  last  get-to- 
gether of  the  day,  before  we  retire  to  our  beds,  is  the 
meeting  around  the  camp  fire,  which  we  call  devotion- 
als.  First  we  sing  anything  and  everything,  then  the 
presiding  officer  calls  upon  the  adult  Leader,  who  tells 
about  to-morrow's  schedule — the  distance,  points  of 
interest,  scenic,  scientific,  historical,  or  otherwise.  Then 
the  time  for  breakfast  is  set,  and  the  leader  of  the  even- 
ing's topic  introduced.  It  is  not  uncommon  that  it  is 
the  young  fellow's  first  attempt.     He  has  made  some 


DEVOTIONALS  65 

preparation,  and  has  presumed,  also,  that  when  he 
arises  to  speak,  a  copious  flow  of  thought  and  expres- 
sion will  naturally  come  to  him,  but  alas !  three  or  four 
broken  sentences,  from  which  all  correct  English  has 
departed,  and  he  is  at  his  wit's  end,  and  after  a  vain 
attempt  to  think  of  something  more  to  say,  he  sits 
down,  but  his  serious  effort  really  has  spoken  volumes. 
It  is  just  as  common,  however,  that  we  are  surprised 
by  a  fine,  fluent  talker,  with  well-chosen  illustrations 
from  the  boy's  own  observation,  and  some  striking 
truths  brought  to  our  attention.  These  meetings  have 
as  fine  a  spirit  of  reverence  as  that  within  a  church 
edifice. 

In  one  of  our  camp  fire  topics  the  leader  was  a  young 
man  in  his  upper  teens.  His  subject  was,  ''What 
chances  for  service  does  my  church  offer  me?"  He 
said,  "In  our  church  the  offices  are  all  held  by  old  peo- 
ple, and  they  don't  think  a  young  fellow  can  do  any- 
thing"— more  truth  than  many  *'old  people"  care  to 
admit. 

The  presentation  of  the  topic  is  followed  by  general 
discussion,  after  which  all  arise  and  join  hands  around 
the  camp  fire.  We  ''number"  to  be  sure  that  all  are 
present  or  accounted  for,  repeat  the  Lord's  prayer  in 
unison,  and  are  dismissed  for  the  night.  The  presid- 
ing officer  is  always  the  young  man  who  had  the  pre- 
vious night's  topic;  the  office  rotates  and  each  has 
an  opportunity  to  show  his  talent  in  handling  a  meet- 
ing. 

The  Bi(i  Hile.      5. 


66  THE  BIG  HIKE 

We  sometimes  expand  these  meetings  into  very  in- 
teresting programs,  with  special  music,  vocal  or  in- 
strumental, recitations,  stories,  talks,  Indian  dances, 
etc.  We  recall  with  pleasure  our  'Telican  Quartet" 
and  their  performance  in  vocal  music.  At  least  one  of 
the  four  could  carry  a  tune,  and  the  rest  made  up  in 
enthusiasm  what  they  lacked  in  harmony.  The  result 
was  uproarious,  and  quite  a  success. 

The  Lord's  Prayer  is  like  a  benediction,  and  most  of 
the  fellows,  wearied  with  a  long  day  of  strenuous  ac- 
tivity, at  once  retire  to  the  blanket  roll  or  sleeping  bag 
for  a  night  of  restful  sleep. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Overnight. 


WE  used  to  carry  tents.  The  boys  provided  them 
among  themselves.  Two  or  more  would  go  in 
together  and  share  the  expense,  and  likewise  the  socia- 
bility of  what  thus  became  their  own  little  home  circle. 
We  never  carried  wood  floors  nor  cots.  They,  of  course, 
would  be  too  heavy  to  be  taken  about,  but  for  the  first 
years  we  did  provide  straw  for  bedding.  It  was  fine 
for  that  purpose,  and  no  one  ever  objected  to  its  use, 
but  in  time  it  seemed  to  be  more  trouble  than  it  was 
worth. 

Some  of  us,  while  having  our  tents  with  us,  got  into 
a  practice  of  sleeping  in  the  open  without  it.  Two 
Annual  Big  Hikes  were  taken  in  this  way,  without 
even  unpacking  the  tents,  and  by  and  by  it  was  voted 
that  henceforth  no  tents  would  be  carried. 

But  what  if  it  rains?  If  it  rains  the  tent  gets  wet, 
and  is  very  heavy  to  transport  next  day.     If  it  rains 

67 


Gi> 


THE  BIG  HIKE 


Our  1910  camp  near  Cordova.  111. — The  days  when  we  believed  tents  were  necessary 


the  ground  may  be  too  wet  for  a  bed  the  following 
night.  If  it  continues  cloudy  for  several  days  the  tent's 
do  not  dry.  aid  a  tent  long  wet  is  a  sorry  piece  of  bag- 
gage. Incidentally  the  air  in  a  tent  is  stuffy  and  un- 
wholesome. 

In  place  of  a  number  of  small  tents,  we  now  carry 
a  large  canvas,  which  serves  as  a  roof  in  emergency. 
If  it  gets  wet  we  do  uur  best  to  dry  it  next  day,  and  if 
the  ground  is  too  damp  for  sleeping  the  night  follow- 
ing, we  secure  dry  quarters  under  some  hospitable 
roof.  We  have  been  permitted  to  use,  in  these  emer- 
gencies, the  Y.  ^I.  C.  A's. :  a  church;  a  county  court 


OVERNIGHT 


69 


house;  a  public  hall;  fair  grounds  buildings;  livery 
barns;  a  farmers'  co-operative  warehouse,  and  a  '*ho- 
tel  annex,"  of  which  vv^e  must  tell  you,  though  the  in- 
troduction to  the  story  is  long.  It  was  during  the  time 
that  we  were  using  horses,  wagons  and  tents. 


On   the  Big   Hike.      Iowa   River   near   Marengo. 


Late  one  nig?it  a  bad  wind  and  rain  storm  broke 
upon  our  camp  on  the  Iowa  river.  In  a  short  time  the 
ground  was  flooded  and  the  tents  blown  down.  Next 
day  was  a  long,  steady  pull  through  mud,  and  by  large 
trees  which  had  been  blown  down  in  the  storm.  We 
planned  to  spend  the  night  in  some  vacant  farm  build- 
ing— a  corn  crib,  for  instance,  but  as  the  afternoon 
wore  away  we  were  unable  to  secure  permission  to 
enter,  though  we  inquired  at  several  farms.    We  then 


70 


THE  BIG  HIKE 


decided  to  unhitch  and  feed  our  horses,  while  the  cooks 
prepared  our  supper,  and  would  then  cover  the  re- 
maining nine  miles  to  Tama,  Iowa,  for  we  were  on  our 
way  to  visit  the  Indians  a  few  miles  west  of  Tama. 
At  dusk  we  started  on  our  slow,  tedious  way,  with 
lanterns  cleaned  and  filled.  It  became  very  dark.  All 
except  the  drivers  were  walking  and  the  w^ay  seemed 
endless. 

We  finally  reached  Tama,  gave  our  horses  a  com- 
fortable place  in  a  livery  barn,  and  midnight  found 
our  party  of  twenty-eight  all  seated  about  a  horse- 
shoe shaped  lunch  counter,  having  a  sandwich  and  a 
glass  of  milk  before  retiring  to  the  barn  where  we  had 
permission  to  spend  the  night. 


Among  our  Indian  friends  at  Tama,  Iowa. 


OVERNIGHT  71 

Next  day,  while  in  the  midst  of  the  Indian  country, 
we  were  greeted  by  one  of  the  most  terrific  storms  of 
hghtniiig,  thunder  and  rain  that  the  writer  has  ever 
seen.  After  a  couple  of  nights  spent  in  the  Indian 
farmer's  barn,  and  with  the  ground  still  saturated 
from  the  rains,  w^e  returned  to  Tama.  ''How  much 
did  we  charge  you  for  the  use  of  the  barn  the  other 
night?"  asked  the  proprietor.  On  being  told  how 
much,  he  added,  'If  you'll  give  me  $5.00  more  I  can 
put  all  your  boys  in  beds  at  our  annex."  The  offer  was 
accepted,  and  all  of  us  were  ushered  to  our  rooms. 
The  writer  had  a  room  all  by  himself — so  he  thought, 
but  soon  after  he  retired  he  felt  things  creeping. 
Turning  on  the  light  we  beheld  the  bed  bug,  who  like- 
wise was  bent  on  hiking. 

It  seemed  they  were  out  in  squads,  platoons  and 
companies,  and  as  the  light  was  turned  on  they  exe- 
cuted a  right  about  face  and  disappeared  under  the 
pillows  and  over  the  edge  of  the  bed.  The  writer  was 
once  told  that  if  the  room  is  kept  lighted  the  bed  bug 
will  not  come  out,  so  this  was  tried,  but  the  bugs  could 
not  resist  the  prospect  of  a  fine,  juicy  banquet,  and  ad- 
vanced again  in  spite  of  lights.  So  the  writer  re- 
treated to  the  street  and  to  other  quarters. 

Next  morning,  4:00  o'clock,  found  our  gang  all 
aboard  the  wagons,  and  merrily  headed  homewards, 
where  we  arrived  a  few  days  later.  Some  of  the  moth- 
ers,  having  heard   of  our   "Annex"    experience,    met 


72 


THE  BIG  HIKE 


their  sons  at  the  door  and  threw  clean  clothing  out  to 
them  and  directed  them  to  a  bath  in  the  barn  before 
coming  into  the  house.  It  served  us  right,  for  a  party 
going  for  a  week  or  two  of  outing  should  have  better 
judgment  than  to  accept  a  soft  bed  in-doors  even  for  a 


Sleeiiing   under   tlie  stars,   an   almost   unknown    luxiii'\'. 

single  night.  Sleeping  under  the  stars  on  the  hard 
ground  is  a  luxury  unknown  to  the  great  mass  of  our 
fellowmen.  The  writer's  first  experience  of  the  kind 
was  years  ago,  out  in  the  Great  West,  among  the  cow- 
boys in  Wyoming.  It  was  there,  too,  with  the  Round- 
up outfit,  that  he  had  his  first  wonderful  meal,  pre- 
pared over  the  open  camp  fire.  The  rear  end  of  the 
mess  wagon  had  the  cupboard,  and  the  cupboard  door 
had  its  hinges  at  the  bottom,  so  that  when  open  the 


OVERNIGHT 


73 


door  served  as  a  table.  The  cow-punchers,  as  they 
were  called,  were  so  devoted  to  their  out-of-door  life, 
that  even  when  they  came  to  the  head  ranch  they  dis- 
dained to  sleep  in  the  ''bunk-house,"  but  spread  their 
beds  out  in  the  pasture  and  slept  under  the  stars — and 


The   Big  Hike  bath.      At  Camp  AVarren,   Mich. 

sometimes  under  a  coat  of  snow  which  fell  through  the 
night,  but  the  outer  covering  of  the  bed,  a  tarpaulin, 
was  water-proof,  and  they  had  never  a  thought  of  dis- 
comfort. In  the  morning  they  rolled  up  the  bed^ 
buckled  some  straps  tightly  about  it  and  tossed  it  into 
the  bed  wagon.  Their  days  were  spent  in  the  saddle. 
Your  first  night's  bed  on  the  ground,  with  but  two 
or  three  warm  blankets  about  you,  will  seem  hard.  The 
second  night  you  will  have  less  thought  of  hardness, 
and  before  you  are  aware  of  it,  you  take  to  your  open- 
air,  hard-earth  quarters  as  naturally  as  to  the  mat- 


74  THE  BIG  HIKE 

tress  and  springs  under  the  paternal  root.  It  does  not 
rain  every  night.  Most  summer  nights  are  dry,  and  an 
experience  with  a  thunder  storm,  provided  there  an^ 
not  too  many  of  them,  only  adds  to  the  pleasure  of  the 
trip. 

And  what  of  mosquitoes?  The  person  who  has  n^t 
slept  out  under  the  stars  will  enjoy  the  following 
stanza  from  ''The  Rime  of  the  Ancient  Hiker-Man," 
by  John  H.  Shantz  of  the  Black  Hawk  Hiking  Club, 
for  it  satisfies,  and  saves  a  strain  on  his  imagination: 

"I  lay  me  down  upon  the  ground 

An  ant-hill  was  my  bed; 
And  while  I  lay,  without  a  sound 
Came  creeping,  crawling  things  around, 
And  swarmed  upon  my  head. 

A  lizard  crept  across  my  nose, 

A  spider  bit  my  heel 

While  twice  ten  thousand  skeeter  bugs 

Danced  the  Virginia  reel. 

At  half  past  two  I  fell  into 

A  most  uneasy  rest, 
To  dream  that  Sitting  Bull  himself 

'Twas,  sitting  on  my  chest." 

The  above  poem,  in  itself  reveals  a  fine  imagination, 
besides  reciting  a  number  of  possibilities.  Stored  away 
in  our  collection  of  choice  Hiker  memories  are  a  num- 
ber of  Hero  tales  of  how  we  battled  with  mosquitoes. 
The  writer  recalls  a  night  when  he  lay  hidden  under 


OVERI^IGHT  75 

his  blanket,  with  a  perfectly  fiendish  chorus  closely 
overhead.  He  learned  that  mosquitoes  like  the  genus 
homo,  have  their  tenors,  basses,  soprano  and  alto,  and 
in  this  case  the  entire  grand  chorus  was  fired  with 
such  singleness  of  purpose  that  it  kept  their  intended 
victim  perspiring  under  cover,  occasionally  coming  up 
for  air,  until  daylight,  when  the  entire  chorus  disap- 
peared so  completely  you  would  have  thought  it  was 
all  a  dream. 

A  bad  night  of  mosquitoes,  like  that  of  a  heavy  storm, 
adds  to  the  store  of  "whoppers"  with  which  the  stay- 
at-homes  will  be  held  breathless  while  the  nerve-  rack- 
ing, hair-lifting  details  are  recounted  by  the  re- 
turning Hiker. 

Insect  pests,  however,  are  the  exception,  and  as  a 
rule,  when  once  in  his  cozy  blanket  roll,  the  Hiker, 
soon  drops  off  into  peaceful  sleep,  unmolested,  until 
morning,  when  some  of  the  ''early  birds"  start  the 
day's  chatter  of  conversation  while  still  abed. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Steaniboating  for  a    Change. 

IN  1916  our  Annual  Big  Hike  took  us  to  the  Mark 
Twain  country,  down  the  Mississippi,  Rock  Island, 
Illinois,  to  Hannibal,  Missouri,  with  a  stop  of  a  couple 
of  days  at  Keokuk,  Iowa,  to  see  the  great  power  dam. 
We  traveled  in  turn  on  three  different  steamboats,  the 
"Quincy,"  the  "Dubuque,"  and  the  "St.  Paul." 

The  steamers  were  of  the  type  described  by  Mark 
Twain  in  his  "Life  on  the  Mississippi."  Capt.  John 
Streckfus,  head  of  the  Streckfus  Line,  who  was  with 
the  Quincy  as  we  boarded  her  at  Davenport,  Iowa, 
proved  himself  a  fine,  considerate  host. 

The  Mississippi  is  a  noble  stream.,  with  a  majesty 
and  beauty  all  its  own.  Its  lovely  bluffs,  islands, 
wooded  shores  and  views  of  cultivated  fields,  small  vil- 
lages nestling  at  the  edge  of  the  stream,  an  occasional 
bridge  built  so  high  it  offers  no  obstruction  to  naviga- 
tion, other  bridges  having  draw  piers,  upon  which  a 
span  swings  to  give  passage,  or  where  the  draw  span 

76 


8TEAMB0ATING  FOR  A   CHANGE 


77 


On   the    Mississippi 


Primitive   methods   of   handling   freight. 


78  THE  BIG  HIKE 

is  lifted  above  the  possibility  of  danger,  all  these  join 
in  making  a  steamboat  trip  a  constant  moving  picture, 
which  never  loses  its  charm. 

Added  to  its  natural  beauty  is  its  historical  interest. 
It  carried  over  this  very  course  fleets  of  commerce  and 
of  war,  which  had  their  share  in  the  contest  for  the 
possession  of  the  Mississippi  basin  during  the  Revolu- 
tionary War.  In  the  War  of  1812-14  it  saw  several 
expeditions  of  fortified  keel  boats  of  the  Americans 
pass  up  the  river  to  entertain  the  Indians  with  the  war 
game  in  their  ov/n  fastnesses,  rather  than  have  them 
descend  with  tomahawk  and  scalping  knife  upon  the 
settlements  about  St.  Louis  and  Alton,  and  these  same 
keels  never  returned  except  with  the  bleeding  forms  of 
soldiers,  who  sometimes  were  obliged  to  leave  the 
bodies  of  some  of  their  comrades,  less  fortunate  than 
themselves,  to  be  mutilated  by  their  victorious  enemies. 

Fort  Armstrong,  Fort  Edwards  and  Fort  Madison, 
located  along  this  section  of  the  Upper  Mississippi, 
have  their  tales  also  of  the  armed  contest  between  the 
red  man  and  the  whites  for  possession  of  the  country. 
Black  Hawk,  Keokuk,  Wapello,  Powiskiek  and  other 
notables  of  the  Sauk  and  Fox  tribes;  Wabasha  the 
elder,  and  the  younger,  of  the  Sioux,  Matchekuis,  the 
great  Chippewa  who  led  the  allied  Indian  forces  in  the 
massacre  at  Michilimackinac  during  Pontiac's  War; 
the  handsome  Winnebago,  Red  Bird,  and  others — all 
these  are  subjects  worthy  of  the  pen  and  brush  of  a 


STEAMBOATING  FOR  A   CHANGE 


79 


Fort  Armstrong,  Rock  Island,   111. 


master.  To  this  date,  neither  the  heroic  chiefs  of  the 
conquered  Red  men,  nor  the  events  in  which  they 
played  their  part,  have  had  the  notice  which  posterity 
will  give  them. 

Not  only  the  steamboats,  but  all  the  miethods  of 
handling  freight,  were  the  same  as  in  the  days  of 
Mark  Twain.  A  dozen  roustabouts  would  cluster  about 
an  automobile  in  unloading,  and  in  carrying  aboard  a 


80 


THE  BIG  HIKE 


crated  engine,  as  many  as  could  get  around  it  would 
be  seen  pushing  and  pulling  while  the  mate  directed 
every  move.  In  handling  lighter  articles  of  freight 
there  would  be  a  procession  the  like  of  which  might  be 
copied  from  the  records  of  the  Pharoahs,  so  ancient 


|t<|l|t^^^fM^^^A' 


The   i)()\vt'i'    dam    at    Keokuk,    Iowa. — Ilaniilton,    111. 

is  the  method.  All  of  it  was  of  absorbing  interest  to 
the  passenger.  After  we  had  passed  below  Keokuk, 
Iowa,  there  was  much  entertainment  in  seeing  cattle 
and  hogs  brought  aboard  the  steamer  for  shipment  to 
St.  Louis.  In  loading  the  hogs  the  roustabouts  would 
carry  sections  of  board  fencing  in  such  a  way  as  to 
make  a  movable  pen,  and  by  gradual  stages  the  steam.- 
er-deck  was  reached.  Bringing  on  the  cattle  proved  to 
be  more  exciting.  One  member  of  the  herd  decided,  at 
the  last  moment,  not  to  go  aboard.     After  some  ma- 


8TEAMB0ATING  FOR  A   CHANGE 


81 


Live  stock  to  be  shipped  to  St.   Louis. 


"She  enjoyed   lots  of  play. 


The  Bill  11  He.     6. 


82 


THE  BIG  HIKE 


neuvering  a  rope  was  thrown  over  her  horns,  but  the 
rope  was  long  and  she  enjoyed  lots  of  plaj^  In  time, 
however  the  men  got  her  into  close  quarters,  and  in  the 
final  act  she  was  almost  literally  carried  aboard. 

The  dam  across  the  Mississippi  at  Keokuk  is  said  to 
be  the  longest  for  purely  hydro-electric  purposes  in 
the  world.  Its  locks  for  the  passage  of  water  craft 
exceed  in  height  those  of  Panama.  There  is  also  a 
large  U.  S.  dry  dock,  and  its  power  plant  furnishes 
light  and  power  for  cities  as  far  away  as  St.  Louis. 
Altogether  this  power  project  at  Keokuk  is  a  great 
engineering  feat.  We  found  it  fascinating  beyond  our 
expectations,  and  after  a  couple  of  days  there  we  again 
filed  up  the  gang  plank  and  were  off  for  Hannibal,  the 
old  ''St.  Petersburg"  of  Mark  Twain's  'Tom  Sawyer." 


Lower  gate  of  the  lock,   Keokuk   dam. 


8TEAMB0ATIXG  OFR  A  CHANGE  83 

It  may  be  that  a  certain  community  breeds  humor- 
ists, just  as  other  localities  become  famous  for  grow- 
ing corn  and  cotton.  Anyway,  the  first  person  whom 
we  asked  to  guide  us  suggested  that  of  course  we  would 
all  want  to  drink  of  the  Mark  Twain  spring,  and  he 
led  the  way.  All  were  thirsty,  and  with  our  tin  cups 
in  hand,  were  jostling  each  other  for  the  first  chance 
at  the  clear  overflowing  trough.  The  water  is  very 
strongly  mineralized  and  bitter,  and  the  joke  was  on 
us.  We  spent  the  first  night  on  the  high  bluff,  near  the 
statue  of  the  noted  author  who  made  the  place  so  fam- 
ous, and  the  next  few  nights  were  spent  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Mark  Twain  Cave.  It  was  within  this  cave  that 
Becky  and  Tom  were  lost  and  given  up  for  dead,  and 
where  Indian  Joe  starved  to  death.  You  should  read 
these  very,  very  pathetic  tales  in  ''The  Adventures  of 
Tom  Sawyer,"  chapters  xxix  to  xxxiii  inclusive. 

We  secured  two  guides  for  the  cave  trip.  One  led 
the  way  and  the  other  brought  up  the  rear,  to  keep 
stragglers  from  getting  lost.  Each  guide  carried  a 
lantern  and  the  boys  of  our  party  carried  lighted  can- 
dles, and  on  two  different  days  we  passed  through  the 
deep  and  dark  recesses  of  the  cave.  The  camp  fire  pro- 
gram of  the  night  between  was  devoted  entirely  to 
reading  the  story  with  absorbing  interest,  of  Tom  and 
Becky,  lost  in  the  cave. 

One  day  we  rented  a  lot  of  row  boats  and  rowed  to 
the  Island,  just  below  Hannibal,  where  we  had  fine 


Witliin   tlie  Mark  Twain  cave. 


8TEAMB0AT1NG  FOR  A   CHANGE 


85 


bathing,  and  prepared  our  evening  meal.  It  was  on 
this  island  that  Tom  Sawyer,  Huckleberry  Finn  and 
Joe  Harper  lived  as  pirates,  and  from  which  Tom 
swam  to  the  mainland,  made  his  way  unobserved  into 
the  church,  and  there  listened  to  his  own  funeral  ser- 


At  the  boyhood   home  of  Mark  Twain,   Hannibal,   Mo. 

mon.  You  will  find  the  story  beginning  at  chapter 
xiii  in  'The  Adventures  of  Tom  Sawyer."  We  visited 
the  boyhood  home  of  Samuel  L.  Clemens  (Mark  Twain) , 
in  the  city  of  Hannibal,  and  climbed  to  the  top  of  Lov- 
ers' Leap,  a  rocky  promontory  which  in  his  boyhood 
afforded  him  such  inspiring  views  of  the  Mississippi 
and  its  traffic. 

One  of  the  most  enjoyable  parts  of  the  Big  Hike  was 
a  cross-country  walk  for  a  distance  of  twelve  miles  as 
the  crow  flies.     This  took  us  over  hills  and  hollows, 


86  THE  BIG  HIKE 

following  110  regular  road,  tramping  part  of  the  time 
in  a  dry  creek  bed,  and  through  fields,  pastures  and 
woodland,  and  an  orchard  where  we  were  cheerfully 
told  by  the  farmer  to  help  ourselves  to  the  wind-falls. 
Earlier  in  the  day  we  had  been  shown,  at  the  Atlas 
Portland  Cement  Works  at  Ilasco,  Mo.,  every  part  of 
the  process  of  cement  manufacture,  from  drilling  and 
blasting  the  limestone  to  bagging  the  finished  product. 
This  plant  had  supplied  a  large  part  of  the  cement  used 
in  the  construction  of  the  locks  for  the  Panama  Canal. 
We  did  not  leave  Ilasco  for  our  cross-country  walk 
until  the  middle  of  the  afternoon,  and  the  result  was 
we  did  not  reach  our  destination  at  New  London,  Mo., 
until  after  8:00  at  night,  all  of  us  tired,  but  very 
happy.  Naturally  some  walked  faster  than  others, 
and  as  we  followed  no  definite  route  we  were  soon 
divided  into  two  main  parties,  lost  to  each  other.  One 
of  our  twelve-year-old  boys,  not  so  robust  as  the  rest, 
had  to  be  carried  part  way.  Sixty  boys  dropping  un- 
expectedly out  of  the  darkness,  would  excite  an  inter- 
est in  any  town.  Some  big-hearted  men  thought  we 
ought  to  sleep  under  cover,  and  offered  us  our  choice 
between  the  basement  of  their  fine  Christian  church 
and  the  court  room  in  the  county  court  house.  We 
accepted  the  last-named.  The  next  morning,  while 
breakfast  was  on,  our  hospitality  boy  served  French 
toast  and  coffee  to  a  number  of  the  townsmen  and 
women.  They  asked  for  our  recipe,  which  is  always  a 
compliment  to  any  cook. 


STEAMBOATING  FOR  A   CHANGE 


87 


Another  walk  of  about  twelve  miles  over  the  main 
highway  brought  us  back  to  Hannibal  and  the  steam- 
boat landing,  where  w^e  again  embarked  and  steamed 
up  the  river  homewards.  Several  years  have  passed, 
but  one  still  hears  our  boys  imitating  the  long-drawn- 
out  call  of  the  deck-hands  who  sounded  the  channel,  as 
we  proceeded,  viz.,  "four  feet,"  ''six  feet,"  ''no  bot- 
tom." 

Interesting  as  was  every  part  of  the  ten  days'  out- 
ing, the  feeling  seemed  to  prevail  that  steamboat  trans- 
portation was  too  confining  to  the  boys.  It  did  not 
give  us  the  necessary  amount  of  exercise,  and  should 
we  ever  repeat  the  trip,  we  would  try  to  arrange  for 
shorter  relays  by  boat,  with  more  walking  between, 
but  should  still  provide  for  enough  steam-boating  to 
get  the  true  Mississippi  flavor. 


Passing  the  draw-spiin  at   Quincy,   111. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


The  Black  Hawk  Hiking  Club. 

FOR  years  we  believed  ours  was  an  exclusively  mas- 
culine type  of  summer  vacation;  that  only  men 
and  boys  could  live  out  in  the  open,  without  stoves  or 
tents.  We  were  blinded  by  our  present-day  habit  of 
living,  where  every  convenience  is  thought  to  be  a  ne- 
cessity. We  forgot  about  Pharoah's  daughter  going 
to  the  river  for  her  bath,  and  that  Rebekah  drew  water 
at  the  well  instead  of  turning  a  faucet ;  we  overlooked 
the  trip  which  the  last-named  young  lady  had  from 
the  paternal  roof,  down  to  where  her  husband-to-be 
was  waiting,  and  which  doubtless  was  a  very  near 
precedent  to  our  style  of  outing.  Her  meals,  like  ours, 
were  prepared  over  the  camp  fire,  and  in  spite  of  a 
weather-beaten  complexion  she  retained  her  charm, 
and  Isaac  loved  her  at  first  sight. 

Our  grandmothers  kept  house  with  no  more  equip- 
ment than  we  carry;  their  bill  of  fare  was  not  so 
varied,  and  often  the  sleeping  quarters  had  less  of 

S8 


THE  BLACK  HAWK  HIKING  CLUB 


89 


The  Black   Hawk  Hiking  Club. 


privacy.  Thousands  of  them,  with  husband  and  chil- 
dren, journeyed  to  the  new  Land  of  Promise  in  practi- 
cally the  same  style  as  our  Big  Hike. 

The  Black  Hawk  Hiking  Club  has  a  membership 
made  up  largely  of  college-trained  men  and  women. 
They  include  many  leaders  in  the  church  and  welfare 
work  of  their  respective  communities.  Married  and 
single  they  fairly  represent  the  culture  and  refinement 
of  the  community.  During  the  four  years  of  the  Club's 
existence  they  have  taken  the  annual  "Big  Hike"  as 
described  in  the  foregoing  pages,  and  have  found  the 
plan  entirely  practicable.  From  the  first,  a  night  un- 
der the  trees  with  only  the  blanket  roll,  was  a  success. 


90 


THE  BIG  HIKE 


'■L'ompk'xions   are  acquired." 

"Ladies'  dormitory"  and  "Men's  dormitory"  mean  noth- 
ing more  than  separate  plots  of  ground,  without  build- 
ing or  tents.  They  have  traveled  some  thousands  of 
miles  all  told  in  autos  which  do  not  have  so  much  as  a 


Black   Hawk   Hiking  Club.      Everybody   works. 

sun   shade.      Complexions    are   acquired,   the   like   of 
which  cannot  be  purchased  with  money. 

The  daily  bath  is  taken  in  river  or  lake,  and  the 
health  of  the  party  is  such  that  it  is  not  unusual  for 


THE  BLACK  HAWK  HIKING  CLUB 


91 


them  to  sing  by  the  hour,  out  of  the  pure  joy  of  Hving. 
Distances  are  covered  by  auto  trucks,  but,  as  in  the 
case  with  the  boys,  there  are  many  times  each  day 
when  all  are  afoot,  and  the  term  ''Big  Hike"  fairly 
describes  the  outing. 

There  is  no  difference  to  speak  of  between  the  Big 


The   "Ladies'   dormitory," 


Hike  program  of  the  Black  Hawk  Hiking  Club  and 
that  of  the  boys,  except  that  the  former  are  more  apt 
in  arranging  a  camp-fire  program;  composing  songs, 
and  in  the  use  of  the  camera.  The  matter  of  cooking, 
schedules,  devotionals,  each-person-a-job,  and  over- 
night are  identical  in  both  groups. 

The  ladies'  share  with  the  men  in  all  kinds  of  work, 
from,  helping  an  auto  out  of  a  mud  hole,  to  carrying 


92 


THE  BIG  HIKE 


wood  and  water,  doing  camp-police  work,  and  they 
have  even  done  guard  through  the  long  dark  hours  of 
the  night. 

The  first  local  hike,  of  what  is  now  the  Black  Hawk 
Hiking  Club,  was  taken  in  January  1920  on  the  ice  of 
the  Mississippi,  with  the  thermometer  at  six  below 


Black  Hawk  Hikers   at  the   Dunes   of   Northern   Indiana. 

zero.  Every  one  was  warmly  clad,  and  the  hikers  re- 
turned with  a  new  love  for  the  out-of-doors  and  ready 
for  another  venture.  We  have  since  had  over  a  hun- 
dred local  hikes,  averaging  one  for  about  every  two 
weeks,  at  every  season  of  the  year,  and  regardless  of 
weather.  It  is  not  uncommon  to  have  from  sixty  to  a 
hundred  in  the  party,  and  we  have  discovered  and 
learned  to  admire  many  charming  spots  within  a  few 
miles  of  our  homes  which  previously  were  unknown, 
and  therefore  unappreciated  and  unsung. 


THE  BLACK  HAWK  HIKING  CLUB  93 

On  these  local  hikes  we  carry  a  bucket  or  two,  and 
we  never  fail  to  have  coffee  or  cocoa,  and  through  the 
winter  months  we  vary  the  bill  of  fare  with  an  occa- 
sional oyster  stew,  soup,  or  some  meat  stew,  all  of 
these  prepared  over  the  camp  fire. 

Our  first  Big  Hike  took  us  to  Lake  Michigan  and  the 
sand  dunes  of  northern  Indiana,  where  we  lived  night 
and  day  in  the  out-of-doors.  We  were  all  city  folks, 
with  the  mincing  appetite  of  the  person  of  sedentary 
habits,  but  in  an  incredibly  short  time  we  had  recov- 
ered such  capacity  for  food  as  is  common  to  growing 
children. 

It  is  not  only  during  the  period  of  the  outing  that 
the  members  have  the  time  of  their  lives.  Some  of  the 
best  of  it  comes  on  the  return  home,  where  we  find  a 


The   men's   washroom.      Black    Hawk    Hiking  Club. 


94  THE  BIG  HIKE 

brand  new  appreciation  of  the  comforts  and  conven- 
iences— the  bath,  chests  of  clean  clothes,  rockers  and 
easy-chairs;  our  feet  under  a  dining  table;  and  a  bed — 
Oh,  so  soft! 

This  appreciation  should  be  credited  as  among  the 
benefits  of  the  Big  Hike. 


CHAPTER  X. 
Worth  While  Trips. 


EVERY  Big  Hike  we  have  had  has  been  highly 
worth-while,  and  it  is  only  necessary  to  outline 
some  of  them  to  give  an  idea  of  what  they  contained. 

Our  1915  outing  was  a  model,  because  of  the  variety 
of  items  found  on  a  round-trip  covering  but  two  hun- 
dred miles  all  told.  Twenty-eight  of  us  were  eleven 
days  making  the  trip  with  three  horse-drawn  wagons. 
The  first  two  nights  were  spent  at  an  attractive  lake 
near  DeWitt,  Iowa,  where  we  had  a  beautiful  camp, 
with  boating,  bathing,  and  good  fishing — the  fish,  of 
course,  finding  their  way  into  our  frying  pans.  The 
third  and  fourth  nights  were  spent  in  a  wilderness 
country — the  Maquoketa  Caves,  where  we  spent  the 
day  between  partly  at  baseball  and  part  time  exploring 
the  caves.  The  fifth  night  we  were  on  the  bluff  known 
as  Eagle  Point,  high  above  the  Mississippi  river,  at 
Dubuque,  Iowa,  from  which  there  was  an  inspiring 
view. 

95 


96 


THE  BIG  HIKE 


Crystal   Lake,   Dewitt,   Iowa. 

After  another  day  of  interesting  sight-seeing  and 
play  we  put  up  our  tents  on  the  slopes  of  Mount 
Sinsinawa  in  Wisconsin.  Next  day  took  us  to  the 
lead  and  zinc  mines  about  Hazel  Green,  Wis.,  and  to 
Galena,  111.,  where  we  visited  the  old  store  building 
within  which  U.  S.  Grant  was  engaged  in  the  leather 
business  preceding  the  Civil  War.  We  saw  at  the  post- 
office  the  famous  painting  by  Nast,  of  the  surrender 
of  General  Lee  at  Appomatox,  and  in  Grant  Park  a 
statue  of  the  famous  general,  and  up  on  the  hill  the 
brick  residence  presented  to  him  at  the  close  of  the 
Civil  War,  and  in  which  he  resided  before  being  called 
to  the  White  House  as  President. 

The  night  following  found  us  encamped  at  the  top  of 
Sunset  Hill,  six  or  seven  miles  southeast  of  Galena. 


WORTH  WHILE  TRIPS 


97 


The  caves  near  Maquoketa,  Iowa. 


Next  day  our  entire  party  was  lowered  175  feet  into 
the  cavernous  depth  of  a  lead  and  zinc  mine,  a  rare 
treat,  as  instructive  as  it  was  interesting.  The  two 
nights  following  were  spent  at  the  rocks  overlooking 
the  Mississippi  at  Savanna,  111.  We  crossed  and  re- 
crossed  the  Mississippi  over  the  high  bridges  at  Ful- 

The  Big  Hike.      7. 


98 


THE  BIG  HIKE 


ton,  111.,  and  at  Clinton,  Iowa,  and  the  last  night  of  the 
trip  found  us  on  the  bank  of  the  Mississippi  a  few 
miles  below  Albany,  111.,  and  within  striking  distance 
of  Port  Byron,  at  which  place  we  would  leave  our 


The   General   U.   S.   Giant  homestead,   Galena,   111. 

horses  and  wagons  and  return  by  railroad  to  Rock  Is- 
land, our  starting  point. 

The  above  gave  us  a  fine  variety :  lakes,  rivers,  prec- 
ipices, caves,  woods,  lead  and  zinc  mines,  beautiful 
farms,  historical  points  and  cities  of  which  we  had 
heard  but  never  seen,  besides  the  usual  sports  and 
games  in  which  boys  indulge  when  at  home. 

^     ♦     ♦     ♦ 

Our  first  year's  travel  by  auto,  in  1918,  gave  us  a 
fine  round  of  inspirational  travel   also,   with   not  to 


WORTH  WHILE  TRIPS 


99 


The  Twin   Sisters,   Savannah,   111. 


exceed  400  miles  of  travel  all  told.  Our  first  stop  was 
at  Galesburg,  111.,  where  Mr.  0.  L.  Campbell  took  us  to 
''Old  Main"  of  Knox  College,  and  told  us  about  the 
famous  debate  which  he  heard  there  in  1858-  between 
Abraham  Lincoln  and  Senator  Stephen  A.  Douglas. 
We  spent  a  couple  of  nights  on  the  Illinois  river  at 
Quiver  Beach,  near  Havana,  excellent  for  bathing  and 
boating,  then  spent  a  noon  hour  at  Oakford,  with  Mr. 
John  Armstrong,  son  of  the  ''Jack"  Armstrong  with 
whom,  in  1831,  the  young  Lincoln  had  the  famous 
wrestling  match.  Mr.  Armstrong  proved  a  loyal  son, 
for  he  said,  "Mr.  Lincoln  did  not  throw  my  Dad.  No- 
body could  throw  Dad."  We  admire  the  fellow  who 
stands  by  his  Dad.  Mr.  Armstrong  explained  that 
there  were  certain  conditions  under  which  the  match 


100 


THE  BIG  HIKE 


AVith  Mr.   John   Armstrong,   son   of   the  man  wlio  wrestled    with   Lineohi. 


was  held,  and  that  Mr.  Lincoln  won  under  those  con- 
ditions. We  were  shown  enlarged  portraits  of  Mr. 
Armstrong's  mother,  while  he  told  us  about  his  moth- 
er's often  ''foxing"  Lincoln's  pants,  for  Mr.  Lincoln 
boarded  with  them  after  the  Black  Hawk  war,  while 
he  was  engaged  as  surveyor.  The  native  prairie  grass 
would  cut  the  young  surveyor's  nether  garments,  and 
Mrs.  Armstrong  mended  them.  Another  portrait 
showed  Mr.  Armstrong's  brother  Duff,  whom  Mr.  Lin- 
coln   defended,    gratis,    when    the    young    man    was 


WORTH  WHILE  TRIPS  101 

wrongly  accused  of  the  crime  of  murder.  As  we  were 
about  to  leave,  our  host  brought  out  a  gold-headed 
cane,  and  explained  it  was  the  first  prize  won  by  him 
in  an  old-fashioned  fiddling  contest.  We  prevailed 
upon  him  to  give  us  an  exhibition  of  his  skill,  which  he 


The  Offut  store,  of  which  Lincoln  had  charge,  at  "Old"  New  Salem,  111. 

did,  and  it  was  great.  It  was  old-fashioned  dance 
music  and  was  compelling  in  its  power  to  move.  We 
expressed  our  thanks  by  producing  our  fifes,  drums 
and  bugles  and  giving  him  a  few  tunes. 

That  night  we  prepared  our  supper  at  the  old  town- 
site  of  New  Salem.  The  people  of  Petersburg,  two 
miles  away,  were  at  this  time  replacing  log  buildings 
as  they  were  in  the  '30s,  when  Abraham  Lincoln,  then 
an  unknown  young  man  of  21  years,  came  there,  and 


102 


THE  BIG  HIKE 


for  several  years  made  it  his  home,  meanwhile  being 
engaged  as  merchant,  miller,  postmaster,  surveyor, 
and  law  student.  Here  he  met  ''Jack"  Armstrong  of 
the  Clary's  Grove  gang,  Ann  Rutledge,  his  first  love; 
here  he  enlisted  and  marched  off  to  the  Black  Hawk 
war  as  captain  of  his  company,  and  it  was  while  here 
that  he  was  elected  to  the  Illinois  legislature.    At  night 


The  Lincoln  homestead,    Springfiehl,    111. 

we  appeared  on  the  program  of  the  Lincoln  Chautau- 
qua, and  were  shown  many  valuable  Lincoln  relics,  in- 
cluding the  mill  stones  of  the  mill  which  he  had  super- 
intended at  New  Salem. 

Next  day  found  us  at  Springfield,  the  state  capital 
of  Illinois,  where  we  were  shown  through  the  old  home- 
stead where  the  Lincolns  lived  for  seventeen  years — 


WORTH  WHILE  TRIPS 


103 


r- 


Lincoln's   tomb,    Oak    Ridge   Cemeteiy,    Spring-field,    111. 


the  only  home  he  ever  owned,  and  from  which  he 
moved,  as  President  of  the  United  States,  to  take  up 
his  residence  in  the  White  House  at  Washington.  The 
great  tomb  of  Lincohi,  with  its  many  relics,  the  county 
court  house,  which  in  his  day  was  the  capitol  build- 
ing, and  where  he  uttered  some  of  his  great  addresses, 
were  also  visited. 

We  had  a  couple  of  days  at  the  state  fair,  where  ex- 
President  Theodore  Roosevelt  was  the  great  attraction 
for  the  last  day.  We  heard  him  speak  in  the  after- 
noon, and  at  night  he  and  Mrs.  Roosevelt,  together 
with  Governor  and  Mrs.  F.  0.  Lowden  and  many  other 
notables,  made  up  part  of  the  audience  before  whom 
we  performed,  for  we  had  accepted  an  invitation  to 
take  part  in  "The  Masque  of  Illinois,"  which  was  the 


104 


THE  BIG  HIKE 


crowning  performance  of  the  state  centennial,  and 
was  presented  under  the  direction  of  the  Centennial 
Commission,  appointed  by  the  governor.     Our  party 


We  heard  Roosevelt. 


returned  to  Rock  Island  by  way  of  Peoria  and  Gales- 
burg,  having  had  a  most  profitable  vacation. 


On  the  1920  Big  Hike  to  Mammoth  Cave,  and  the 
Lincoln  birthplace  in  Kentucky,  we  made  sight-seeing 
stops  at  Peoria,  the  Illinois  state  university  at  Ur- 
bana,  the  Indiana  state  park  at  Turkey  Run,  old  Vin- 
ceimes.  West  Baden,  and  French  Lick,  where  we  drank 
of  the  famous  mineral  waters.  Next  was  Lincoln 
City,  Indiana,  where  the  Thomas  Lincoln  family  lived 
in  the  half-faced  camp,  and  where  the  mother  of  Abra- 


WORTH  WHILE  TRIPS 


105 


Where  the  Lincoln   cabin   stood,   Lincoln  City,   Ind. 


Xancj'  Hanks  Lincoln  Park,   Lincoln  City,   Ind. 


106 


THE  BIG  HIKE 


ham  Lincoln  is  buried;  and  then  Rockport,  on  the  Ohio, 
where  the  migrating  family  of  Lincoln  crossed  in  1816, 
on  their  way  to  Indiana.  We  had  a  fine  over-night 
camp  here  on  a  high  point  overlooking  the  Ohio  river. 
Our  fellows  did  not  seem  especially  interested  in  the 


At   Turkey   Run,   Indiana   State   Park. 

country  as  long  as  it  was  the  same  as  we  see  at  home. 
It  is  when  we  come  upon  scenes  that  are  new  and 
strange  that  the  attention  becomes  riveted,  though  the 
sociability  of  the  boys  among  themselves  is  always  an 
element  in  making  a  trip  worth  while. 

The  third  morning  out  found  one  of  our  trucks  still 
in  the  repair  shop  at  Urbana,  and  as  there  was  no 
danger  of  getting  off  our  course,  the  boys  started  from 
our  camp  afoot,  heading  off  toward  Danville.    Autoists 


WORTH  WHILE  TRIPS 


107 


going  in  the  same  direction  would  stop  and  invite  them 
to  ride,  so  that  by  the  time  our  own  machines  came 
along,  we  found  our  fellows,  here  a  few  and  there  a 
few,  scattered  over  a  distance  of  25  miles. 

Soon  after  we  entered  the  state  of  Indiana,  near 


In  Indiana. 


Veedersburg,  the  aspect  of  the  country  changed  con- 
siderably; the  roads  narrowed,  rail  fences  appeared, 
and  soon  a  left-over  log  cabin  here  and  there  was  to  be 
seen.  Then  as  v/e  journeyed  on  we  came  upon  sassa- 
fras, beech  and  persimmon,  all  unknown  in  our  home 
surroundings,  and  picturesque  covered  bridges  of 
wooden  spans;  hills  and  woods.  At  old  Vincennes  we 
stopped  to  imbibe  a  bit  of  history  of  General  George 
Rogers  Clark  and  the  days  of  the  Revolutionary  war. 


108 


THE  BIG  HIKE 


A  young  priest  showed  us  through  his  church,  which 
occupies  the  site  of  the  one  in  which  in  1778  the  French 
inhabitants  transferred  their  allegiance  from  England, 
and  joined  their  fortunes  with  the  struggling  colonists. 
We  also  visited  the  mansion  of  William  Henry  Harri- 
son, which  was  built  in  1804,  while  he  was  governor  of 
Indiana  territory. 

The  scenes  became  more  fascinating  still  after  we 
left  Owensboro,  Ky.,  and  proceeded  over  a  hilly  coun- 
try toward  Mammoth  Cave.  We  had  some  unusual 
difficulties,  for  while  Kentucky  has  some  of  the  finest 
roads,  we  selected  a  route  through  some  ''back  coun- 
try," which  had  no  marked  trails.  It  was  necessary 
at  every  fork  of  the  road  to  stop  and  inquire  the  way, 
and  these  people,  like  their  brethren  everywhere,  never 


An   interesting  hill   counti'V   in    Kentuckj\ 


WORTH  WHILE  TRIPS  109 

agreed  one  with  another  on  which  was  the  right  road 
or  which  was  the  best.  Besides,  to  come  to  a  halt 
every  few  miles  to  inquire,  takes  all  speed  out  of  a  trip. 
Our  route,  which  we  had  carefully  worked  out  long 
before  leaving  home,  was  approved  in  full  by  a  man 
we  met  in  Indiana,  who  said  he  passed  regularly  over 
these  roads  every  week,  but  when  we  reached  one  of 
the  towns  in  Kentucky  on  this  very  route,  an  equally 
intelligent-looking  man  declared  with  equal  emphasis 
that  the  proposed  route  was  impossible,  and  directed 
us  over  another  route,  which  would  add  miles  to  the 
trip.  His  directions  we  followed  for  better  or  worse. 
There  is  this  consolation  to  the  strange  autoist:  val- 
ley towns  often  have  only  a  couple  of  ways  to  get  out 
of  them,  so  by  the  time  you  have  asked  several  natives, 
some  of  them  are  bound  to  agree. 

Our  first  meal  in  Kentucky  was  at  noon.  We  had 
permission  to  cook  our  dinner  before  a  tiny  log  cabin 
home.  Several  people  passed  on  horseback,  a  mode  of 
travel  new  to  us.  Among  them  was  a  lady  wearing  the 
old-fashioned  sun-bonnet  and  chewing  a  snuff-stick, 
and  we  saw  a  family  jogging  along  in  a  wagon,  using 
sitting-room  chairs  instead  of  a  spring  seat.  Across 
the  road  from  us  was  a  rail  fence,  and  beyond  that  a 
tobacco  field.  It  was  a  week  day,  and  a  near-by  church 
bell  was  ringing.  "This,"  said  some  of  the  boys,  ''is 
just  like  in  the  movies,  with  the  horseback  people,  and 
the  bell  ringing  to  warn  the  moonshiners  that  there 


110 


THE  BIG  HIKE 


Our   first   meal   in   Kentucky. 


are  strangers  in  the  country."  Going  to  the  well,  our 
water  boys  had  to  draw  with  a  rope  and  bucket,  and 
finished  their  task  by  accidentally  letting  the  rope  slip 
into  the  well.  They  apologized  profoundly,  but  we  had 
to  leave  it  to  the  farmer  to  recover  the  rope  and  bucket. 

Late  that  afternoon,  while  at  Hartford,  we  were 
overtaken  by  a  heavy  rainstorm,  the  only  one  of  the 
trip.  We  huddled  under  our  large  canvas,  which  was 
brought  for  such  emergencies,  but  it  soon  began  to  be 
more  of  a  strainer  than  a  shelter.  After  everybody 
was  drenched  the  boys  ran  to  a  near-by  eaves-spout 
and  crowded  each  other  to  get  the  force  of  the  water 
as  it  shot  down  upon  them. 

We  secured  permission  to  spend  the  night  in  the 
warehouse  of  a  Farmers'  Co-operative  company.    Hav- 


WORTH   WHILE  TRIPS 


111 


ing  taken  possession  of  this,  our  boys  donned  their 
bathing  suits  and  hung  up  their  wet  clothes  to  dry. 

Next  morning  all  our  clothes  as  well  as  our  tarpau- 
lin were  nicely  dry,  and  we  were  off  in  the  best  of 
spirits  for  a  day's  encounter  with  mud  roads. 

We  soon  reached  Green  river,  which  had  to  be 
crossed  by  ferry,  but  the  landing  at  each  side  of  the 


The  contrivance  which   brought   the   auto   out   of   the  mud. 

river  was  barred  by  an  auto  stalled  in  the  mud,  and 
we  could  not  pass  until  they  were  removed.  Our  boys 
prepared  to  help,  again  togging  themselves  in  bathing 
suits.  A  horse  and  mule  team  was  at  hand,  but  these, 
with  all  the  men  and  boys  that  could  cluster  about  it, 
and  with  the  ferry  against  the  rear  of  the  car,  failed 
to  move  the  first  auto,  for  it  had  been  there  over  night, 


112 


THE  BIG  HIKE 


and  was  well  imbedded.  Our  party  then  called  for  a 
piece  of  cable  which  was  at  hand,  and  by  attaching  one 
end  to  the  auto  and  the  other  to  a  tree,  two  stout 
wooden  bars  were  taken  and  twisted  upon  the  cable  in 
such  manner  as  to  make  a  windlass — and  the  auto  sur- 
rendered and  came  out.    The  second  auto  gave  us  less 


The   ferry,   Green   Ri\er,   KeimKk\'. 


trouble,  and  we  were  soon  across  and  on  our  way. 
This  ferry,  of  quite  a  primitive  type,  was  attached  to 
an  aerial  cable  by  means  of  lines  and  pulleys,  and  on 
being  set  at  a  proper  angle,  was  driven  across  by  the 
force  of  the  current. 

After  driving  some  distance  we  had  again  to  cross 
the  river — this  time  on  a  small  ferry  which  was  pro- 
pelled by  means  of  great,  long  oars,  such  as  we  had 


WORTH  WHILE  TRIPS  113 

seen  pictures  of,  but  had  never  before  seen  in  actual 
use. 

We  arrived  at  the  famous  Mammoth  Cave  long  after 
dark,  a  badly  mud-bespattered  lot,  but  with  the  blood 
coursing  warmly  as  a  result  of  the  many  unusual  inci- 
dents of  the  day. 

We  cannot  describe  Mammoth  Cave  here.  Our 
party  made  two  trips,  on  successive  days.  Headed  by 
our  guide  we  saw  the  saltpetre  vats  and  old  wooden 
pipes  used  in  the  manufacture  of  saltpetre  during 
the  War  of  1812-'14,  saw  the  ''Giant's  coffin,"  cork- 
screw, the  wonderful  ''Star  chamber"  effects,  and 
many  other  interesting  points  within  this  largest  of 
known  caverns.  At  one  place  where  the  echoes  were 
most  remarkable,  one  of  our  boys  gave  bugle  calls,  and 
the  sounds  echoed  and  re-echoed  until  they  blended  like 
the  music  of  some  wonderful  instrument. 

We  took  it  upon  ourselves  to  explore  one  cave  with- 
out a  guide — Dixon's  Cave,  which,  as  a  native  darkey 
said,  "Isn't  a  cave  at  all.  It's  only  a  hole  in  the 
ground.  It's  only  three-quarters  of  a  mile  long."  We 
carried  a  quantity  of  fire-wood  down  the  stony  in- 
cline, and  on,  into  the  far  depths,  and  had  a  bonfire, 
which  but  faintly  lighted  up  the  walls  of  this  immense 
cavern.  Some  of  the  boys  with  flashlights  continued 
their  explorations  far  beyond  our  bonfire,  until  they 
heard  a  hissing  sound.  Our  party  did  not  learn  what 
it  was.    The  boys  did  not  stop  to  investigate,  for  in  a 

Til,'   Biy  II He.      S. 


114 


THE  BIG  HIKE 


The  spring.      Lincoln's  biithplaec    farm,    Hodgensville,    Ky 


somber  depth  such  as  we  were  in,  and  without  a  guide, 
one  has  a  feeling  of  more  or  less  awe  and  uncertainty 
at  best.  We  wondered  how  high  the  ceiling  in  the 
cave  was.    We  cannot  tell  you  now,  except  this — it  was 


WORTH  WHILE  TRIPS 


115 


SO  high  that  only  a  few  of  our  best  throwers  could 

fling  a  carefully  selected  rock  high  enough  to  reach  it. 

One  of  the  leading  objectives  on  the  trip  was  the 

Abraham  Lincoln  birthplace  farm.     We  camped  there 


This  building  contains   the    log-   cabin   in    which   Abraham    Lincoln   was   born. 

over  night  and  secured  our  water  supply  at  the  same 
spring  from  which  young  Abraham  got  his  first  drink. 
We  entered  the  marble,  temple-like  building,  within 
which  stands  the  very  cabin  in  which  the  great  eman- 
cipator was  born.  To  wander  over  the  premises  was 
like  treading  upon  sacred  ground.     As  usual  we  took 


IIG  THE  BIG  HIKE 

many  snapshots  which  serve  so  well  as  records  of 
places  visited.  A  stop  was  made  at  Hodgensville,  the 
little  city  nearest  the  Lincoln  birthplace,  and  then  we 
were  off  for  Louisville,  over  perfect  roads  and  on 
homeward  through  the  ever-interesting  Indiana  coun- 
try. 


The  year  following  we  covered  on  our  1921  Big  Hike 
less  distance  than  we  had  for  several  years,  only 
about  500  miles,  but  it  was  filled  with  most  interesting 
places.  It  included  Starved  Rock  with  its  precipices 
and  canons;  and  Lake  Michigan,  with  its  wonderful 
bathing  and  dunes.  We  spent  several  days  where  the 
large  sand  dunes  of  northern  Indiana  and  southwest- 
ern Michigan  were  at  one  hand,  and  the  clear  lake 
water  lapped  the  gently  sloping  beach  at  the  other. 

One  of  the  features  consisted  in  a  twelve-mile  walk 
to  Michigan  City,  Indiana.  We  wore  bathing  suits  for 
the  trip,  and  part  time  we  would  be  in  swimming,  or 
wading,  or  just  walking  along  the  beach.  Right  at  the 
water's  edge  the  sand  was  packed  hard,  and  was  a 
cool  path  for  bare  feet.  But  we  took  too  little  account 
of  the  glaring  sun,  intensified  by  its  reflection  in  the 
water,  and  a  few  of  our  boys  were  blistered  with  sun- 
burn, one  of  them  quite  badly  so. 

One  morning,  at  Orchard  Beach,  Michigan,  after  a 
night  of  hard  wind,  we  had  a  great  time  out  in  the  high 


WORTH  WHILE  TRIPS 


117 


white-caps  as  they  rolled  in  and  broke  upon  the  beach. 
We  were  told  to  be  careful  when  the  waves  roll  high, 
as  in  this  case,  for  at  times  there  is  a  strong  undertow. 

The  miles  upon  miles  of  country  devoted  exclusively 
to  fruit  growing  was  a  source  of  interest.    One  day  we 


Ine   hike   mi   Lake  Michig'an. 


witnessed  the  loading  of  thousands  of  crates  of  fruit 
upon  one  of  the  large  lake  steamers.  It  was  our  good 
fortune  to  board  this  same  steamer  and  sail  across  the 
lake  from  South  Haven,  Michigan,  to  Chicago.  It  was 
an  overnight  voyage.  The  approach  to  the  city  while 
it  was  still  dark,  with  the  city's  lights  increasing  in 
number  as  our  horizon  dropped  to  their  level  until  it 
looked  like  an  endless  procession  of  lights ;  passing  the 
lighthouse  and  entering  Chicago  river, — it  was  day- 
light by  this  time,  and  watching  the  bridges,  seven  of 


118 


THE  Bia  HIKE 


them  in  succession,  opening  to  let  us  pass,  all  of  it  was 
of  absorbing  interest. 

At  Chicago  we  visited  the  wholesale  produce  market 
on  South  Water  street,  at  its  best.  It  is  probably  the 
busiest  street  in  the  world,  with  warehouses  and  side- 
walks piled  with  fruits,  vegetables,  poultry  and  prod- 
uce of  all  kinds ;  with  wagons  and  trucks  backed  to  the 
curb,  so  tightly  parked  side  by  side,  you  would  wonder 
how  they  could  extricate  themselves,  and  yet  they 
seemed  to  move  out  and  in  as  if  there  were  plenty  of 
room. 

The  elevated  road  took  us  to  the  stock  j^ards,  where 
we  saw  some  of  the  13,000  pens,  8,000  double-deck 
pens,  with  room  for  300,000  animals  at  a  time,  and  the 
great  packing  houses  where  we  saw  hogs  slaughtered 


Inspecting  the  stockyards,  Chicago,  111. 


WORTH  WHILE  TRIPS  119 

at  a  rate  almost  beyond  belief.  The  cattle,  while  we 
were  there,  were  being  killed  by  a  Jewish  Rabbi,  in 
order  that  his  people  might  have  ''Kosher"  meat.  He 
was  a  ''sight"  all  by  himself,  dressed  in  B.  V.  D.s 
and  an  apron,  with  long  beard  and  piercing  eye,  and 
with  bare  arms  wielding  a  long  razor-edged  butcher 
knife  with  which  he  executed  his  victims  with  a  single 
stroke.  He  slaughtered  only  enough  to  supply  the  peo- 
ple of  his  own  religion,  after  which  the  task  was  given 
over  to  the  regular  employes. 

We  were  told  they  have  as  many  as  150,000  visitors 
per  year  to  see  these  blood-bespattered  scenes.  One  of 
the  larger  companies  alone  have  61,000  persons  on 
their  payroll,  the  most  of  them  being  employed  at  the 
Chicago  slaughtering  and  packing  plant. 

The  new  Field  Museum  at  Grant  Park,  with  its  great 
Indian  and  other  collections;  the  Art  Institute  with 
paintings  which  are  famous  the  world  over,  and  of 
which  the  boys  had  learned  in  their  school  work ;  Lin- 
coln Park  and  its  zoo;  the  down-town  shopping  dis- 
trict with  its  crow^ded  walks,  all  these  we  found  highly 
worth  while. 

Much  of  the  distance  beside  Lake  Michigan,  follow- 
ing Sheridan  road  to  the  Great  Lakes  Naval  Training 
Station  is  like  a  parkway,  and  from  the  last-named 
place  to  Lake  Geneva,  Wisconsin,  we  passed  through  a 
country  beautiful  with  farms  and  herds,  rivers  and 
lakes. 


120 


THE  BIG  HIKE 


Snappy  young  fellows  at   Great  Lakes  naval  training  station. 

We  were  cordially  received  at  the  Yerkes  Observa- 
tory on  Lake  Geneva,  Wis.,  which  is  connected  with 
Chicago  University,  and  some  of  our  ''hikers"  consid- 
ered our  visit  there,  with  its  instructive  lecture  on  the 
subject  of  the  telescope  and  astronomy,  as  being  the 
most  worth-while  thing  of  the  entire  trip. 


Since  many  of  our  fellows  had,  on  previous  trips, 
seen  some  of  the  lakes  and  forests  of  Wisconsin,  the 
items  on  the  1922  Big  Hike  which  were  new  to  us 
were  the  iron  mines  of  Gogebic  county.  Upper  Michi- 
gan, the  great  ore  docks  at  Ashland,  Wis.,  the  visit  to 
the  Red  Cliff  Indian  reservation ;  the  swim  in  icy  Lake 
Superior,  and  above  all,  a  motor-boat  cruise  among  the 


WORTH  WHILE   TRlPii 


121 


group  of  Apostle  Islands.  At  Raspberry  Island  the 
keeper  of  the  U.  S.  lighthouse  took  our  boys  in  groups 
of  fours  to  the  lamp  at  the  top  of  the  tower,  and  we 
found  it  a  fascinating  subject  to  be  told  about  the 
flashing  of  the  light;  use  of  fog  horns,  etc.  Another 
stop  was  at  the  lone  log  cabin  of  a  Canadian  French- 


Yerkes  Obseivatory   on  Lake  Geneva,   Wis. 

man  on  Manitou  Island.  At  Madeline  Island  w^e  vis- 
ited the  Chippewa  Indian  cemetery  with  its  strange 
wooden  structures  over  the  graves,  and  we  visited  the 
old  mission  church  of  the  Congregational  denomina- 
tion, and  its  first  church  in  Wisconsin,  organized  in 
the  early  days,  and  the  present  old  building,  being  the 
"new"  one,  built  in  1837.  Our  Sundaj^-school  attend- 
ance was  likewise  on  this  island,  at  a  small  Evangeli- 
cal church,  so  small  our  boys  more  than  half  filled  it. 


WORTH  WHILE  TRIPS 


123 


The   "new"   church,   built   1837,   on   Madeline   Island,   near   Bayfield,   AVis. 


Our  return  homeward  was  via  St.  Paul  and  Minne- 
apolis, but  before  reaching  the  Twin  Cities  we  spent  a 
night  on  the  shore  of  Shell  Lake.  Here  we  spied  an 
unusually  large  number  of  frogs.  Our  boys  dashed 
after  them,  returning  in  a  short  time  with  pockets 
bulging  with  frogs.  Scores  of  them  were  dressed,  and 
made  a  dainty  dish,  fried  in  bacon  grease. 

The  Dalles  of  the  St.  Croix  are  now  an  inter-state 
park.  We  spent  a  couple  of  hours  there,  climbing  the 
rocks,  and  trying  to  interest  the  fish  in  hook  and  line 
to  no  avail.     The  Dalles  are  to  be  found  at  Taylor 


WORTH  WHILE  TRIPS  125 

Falls,  Minn.,  with  the  town  of  St.  Croix  Falls  on  the 
Wisconsin  side  of  the  river. 

After  a  night  on  White  Bear  lake  we  were  off  for 
St.  Paul  to  see  their  beautiful  Capitol  and  the  historical 
building  with  its  fine  collections.  At  Minneapolis  we 
were  shown  through  the  great  Pillsbury  flouring  mills, 
among  the  largest  in  the  world,  and  were  taken  down 
to  where  their  turbines  catch  the  force  of  what  used 
to  be  St.  Anthony's  falls,  but  which  is  now  harnessed 
for  power.  Minnehaha  falls  and  Fort  Snelling  were 
visited  also.  At  the  last-named  place  a  game  of  polo 
was  to  take  place,  and  we  watched  them  for  a  while, 
as  they  were  warming  up  horse  and  man,  in  some  pre- 
liminary practice. 

Our  course  then  took  us  via  Northfield,  with  its  fine 
college,  which  we  visited,  and  Austin,  Minn.,  a  small 
city  of  11,000  inhabitants,  which  was  completing  a 
new  high  school  at  a  cost  of  $800,000.  The  president 
of  their  school  board  found  us  and  declared  we  must 
see  the  new  building,  which  was  a  wonderful  structure 
for  the  size  of  the  town. 

We  spent  a  night  beside  ''The  little  Brown  Church  in 
the  vale" — the  one  of  which  the  hymn  is  written — 
''There's  a  church  in  the  valley  by  the  wild-wood,"  etc., 
located  in  the  country  a  couple  of  miles  from  Nashua, 
Iowa.  By  way  of  variety  a  night's  camp  was  had  in 
the  Tama,  Iowa,  Indian  country,  where  we  induced  a 
young  brave  to  lead  our  boys  in  a  snake  dance.    After 


WORTH  WHILE  TRIPS 


127 


all,  the  1922  trip  was  like  those  before  it,  in  that  it 

contained  so*much  of  interest,  one  could  write  a  book 

about  it. 

*     ♦     *     ♦ 

All  of  us  had  looked  forward  to  the  Big  Hike  of 
1923,  for  it  was  to  take  us  to  Niagara  Falls.     Instead 


A   g-linipse  of  the  Public  iLarket,    Hamilton,   Ontario. 

of  telling  of  the  things  we  saw,  as  Great  Lakes  and 
small  ones;  corn  and  grain  fields;  vineyards  by  the 
hundreds  of  acres,  and  orchards  of  like  acreage ;  large 
cities  like  Detroit,  Buffalo,  Cleveland,  and  Chicago;  a 
fine  trip  across  Ontario,  Canada;  oil  wells;  lakes 
shipping ;  historic  spots,  and  the  famous  Niagara  Falls ; 
Whirlpool  rapids ;  cascades  above  Goat  Island,  and  the 
trip  to  the  Cave  of  the  Winds  at  the  foot  of  the  falls, 
instead  of  reciting  these  in  detail,  we  will  mention  the 


128 


THE  BIG  HIKE 


Conmiodore  Perry's  flagship  "Niagara," 
wliich  saw  service  in  the  battle  of  Lake 
Erie,  War  of  1812— '14.    Xow  at  Erie.  Pa. 

human-contact  side  of  the  trip,  not  because  it  was  ex- 
ceptional, but  because  we  have  said  Httle  about  this 
part  of  a  Big  Hike  in  telHng  of  other  trips. 

On  our  first  Sunday  out  we  were  received  with  the 
usual  fine  consideration  at  the  Sunday-school  which 
our  party  of  thirty-four  attended.  The  evening  of  the 
same  day  we  were  at  Camp  Warren,  Michigan,  a  camp 
owned  by  the  Berrien  county  (Mich.)  Sunday-school 
Association.  Here  we  were  invited  to  take  part  on 
their  night  program — giving  songs  and  band  music, 


WORTH  WHILE  TRIPS  129 

and  in  turn  we  enjoyed  the  part  of  the  program  which 
was  given  by  the  boy  campers  there.  At  London, 
Ont.,  we  found  the  local  people  much  interested  in  our 
unusual  travel-camp,  and  in  addition  to  the  interest  of 
the  people  generally,  newspaper  reporters  held  us  up 
to  be  photographed.  At  our  camp  at  Niagara  Falls  we 
had  visitors  from  various  states,  east  and  west,  in 
attendance  at  our  camp-fire  and  devotionals.  At  Tona- 
wanda,  N.  Y.,  after  an  afternoon  of  rain,  we  needed 
shelter.  The  chief  of  police,  to  whom  we  applied, 
promptly  consented  to  our  using  the  park,  which  we  be- 
lieved would  suit  our  purpose,  but  suggested  we  ask 
the  mayor  of  the  city  also.  While  waiting  for  the 
mayor,  the  secretarj^  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  spied  us,  and 
without  any  suggestion  on  our  part,  he  invited  us  to 
spend  the  night  under  the  ''Y"  roof,  which  we  gladly 
did. 

It  had  rained  again  as  we  neared  Sandusky,  Ohio. 
Meeting  their  city  engineer  by  chance,  he  inquired 
where  we  were  to  spend  the  night.  On  learning  that 
we  had  no  plans,  he  suggested  we  stay  at  their  Fair 
Grounds,  and  he  led  the  way.  When  nearing  the 
grounds,  a  merchant  friend  of  his  stepped  aboard  our 
outfits,  and  as  he  watched  our  boys  starting  a  feeble 
fire,  because  the  wood  was  wet,  he  said :  "Wait  a  min- 
ute," and  in  a  few  minutes  his  delivery  truck  drove  up 
with  a  lot  of  dry,  wooden  boxes  for  our  use. 

At  Freemont,  0.,  while  viewing  the  collections  in  the 

The  Bill  liil^-<-      9. 


130  THE  BIG  HIKE 

President  Rutherford  B.  Haj^es  Memorial,  a  son  of  the 
late  President,  Col.  Webb  Hayes,  took  us  in  charge  and 
took  pains  in  showing  us  about  and  telling  us  of  their 
local  history. 

Our  second  Sunday  had  been  spent  in  the  country 
near  Erie,  Pa.,  where  a  kind  widow  permitted  us  to 


The   Magara   above   Goat   Island. 

stay  on  her  farm  from  Saturday  night  to  Monday 
morning.  At  Sunday-school  we  again  were  given  ev- 
ery mark  of  attention ;  were  given  a  special  part — 
singing,  in  the  regular  church  service;  some  of  our 
boys  were  invited  out  to  Sunday  dinner  by  church 
members,  and  attended  the  young  people's  meeting  at 
night. 

The  milk  of  human  kindness  runs  freely  for  a  group 
of  buoyant,  eager,  appreciative  boys,  and  it  is  a  con- 


^  iagara    Falls, 


132  THt:  BIG  HIKE 

stant  challenge  to  our  better  selves,  trying  to  merit  the 
kindness  shown  us. 

It  has  come  to  be  a  proverb  among  our  fellows  that 
'The  last  Hike  is  always  the  best,"  and  as  we  return 
to  familiar  sights  and  swing  into  the  old  home  city, 
some  one  there  always  is,  who,  with  profound  convic- 
tion, repeats  what  others  before  him  have  said,  'This 
is  the  best  Big  Hike  we've  ever  had." 


CHAPTER  XL 

The  United  Sunday  School  Band. 

THE  Big  Hike,  as  described  in  the  foregoing  chap- 
ters, gives  the  collection  of  experiences  of  the 
United  Sunday  School  Band  of  Rock  Island,  Illinois. 

The  band  had  its  start  in  a  small  mission  Sunday- 
school  in  which  the  writer  was  honored  with  the  posi- 
tion of  superintendent.  He  also  was  teacher  of  a  class 
of  boys.  Teacher  and  boys  lived  miles  apart,  with  no 
connection  one  with  another  except  for  the  brief  Sun- 
day-school period.  We  had  nothing  in  common  except 
the  lessons,  and  many  of  the  fellows  evidently  took 
little  interest  in  them. 

In  order  to  do  any  effective  work  there  had  to  be 
some  additional  contact,  preferably  some  week-day  ac- 
tivity. A  fife  and  drum  corps  was  suggested  and  met 
with  immediate  approval.  Within  a  couple  of  weeks 
some  of  our  boys  reported  that  others,  not  in  our  Sun- 
day-school, wished  to  join  our  corps.  We  then  made  it 
a  rule  that  any  boy  attending  Sunday-school,  any- 
where,  regardless   of    denomination,    could   become   a 

133 


134 


THE  BIG  HIKE 


member.  This  was  in  January,  1909,  and  we  have 
kept  the  rule  unaltered,  except  that  we  set  an  age  limit 
of  twelve  years  before  they  could  join.  We  also  added 
the  bugle  as  one  of  the  regular  instruments  of  the  band. 

In  addition  to  fife,  drum  and  bugle  practice,  we  have 
always  taken  local  hikes,  some  military  drill,  given  the 


The   United   Sunday   School  Band. 


boys  opportunity  for  public  appearance  through  giv- 
ing stereopticon  talks,  singing  and  programs,  and  we 
have  appeared  in  a  great  many  parades,  at  home  and 
elsewhere. 

After  some  of  the  fellows  became  proficient  in  the 
use  of  their  respective  instruments,  they  were  ap- 
pointed instructors,  and  for  some  years  not  a  cent  has 
been  spent  for  teachers.  Our  best  fifers  would  be 
given  a  class  of  three  or  four  boys  each,  the  drummers 


THE  UXITED  SUXDAY  SCHOOL  BAND  135 

would  be  divided  into  two  classes — advanced  and  be- 
ginners, and  the  same  was  done  with  the  buglers,  with 
chief  fifer,  chief  drummer,  and  chief  bugler  respec- 
tively. We  have  a  large  room  in  the  garage  at  the 
leader's  residence,  its  brick  walls  hung  with  trophies 
and  enlarged  photographs  of  Big  Hike  scenes.  The 
furniture  is  mostly  benches  of  two-inch  plank  spiked 
to  large-dimension  uprights,  and  a  gym  mat  sometimes 
is  in  use  on  the  concrete  floor.  It  is  never  necessary 
to  ask  the  boys  not  to  break  the  furniture.  Very  few 
''don'ts"  are  necessary.  We  have  had  many  meetings 
at  which  over  a  hundred  members  were  present,  en- 
tertaining themselves  in  their  own  way  until  they  were 
called  to  order  to  begin  the  evening's  work.  The  pro- 
gram is  usually  as  follows: 

(1)  Singing,  using  the  stereopticon  instead  of  song 
books. 

(2)  Stereopticon  views  of  hikes,  or  other  subjects, 
with  talks. 

(3)  Practice  period  of  about  forty  minutes,  ad- 
journing to  different  rooms  so  as  not  to  interfere  with 
each  other :  drummers  in  one,  buglers  occupying  a  cou- 
ple of  rooms  elsewhere,  and  fifers  in  still  another  place. 
For  a  few  winters  we  had  also  a  mandolin  and  guitar 
club. 

(4)  Re-assemble,  roll  call  and  announcements. 

(5)  Band  practice,  in  which  we  played  our  music, 
each  carrying   their   own   parts   as   best  they   could. 


136  THE  BIG  HIKE 

Toward  the  end  of  the  season,  when  the  fellows  had 
their  tunes  in  hand,  we  would  often  divide  into  three 
or  four  "pony  bands,"  assigning  a  boy  leader  to  each, 
and  send  them  in  different  directions  out  on  the  streets 
for  parade  practice. 

In  all  our  plans  the  annual  Big  Hike  had  its  most 
important  place.  It  was  the  "pot  of  gold  at  the  end  of 
the  rainbow,"  for  only  those  were  permitted  to  go 
who  had  favorable  records  of  attendance  at  our  regu- 
lar meetings,  on  local  hikes,  in  our  parades,  and  in 
their  respective  Sunday-schools;  and  so  the  Big  Hike 
lure  held  us  steady.  As  a  rule,  we  did  not  require  that 
a  member  should  learn  to  play  the  instrument  of  his 
choice,  for  some  boys  seemed  to  have  no  music  in  them 
— they  could  neither  whistle  a  tune  nor  guess  correctly 
as  between  "Yankee  Doodle,"  or  "Girl  I  left  behind 
me,"  or  any  other  tune,  even  after  a  season  of  practice 
covering  the  months  from  January  to  Decoration  Day 
in  May,  but  they  marched  with  us,  carrying  flags  or 
assisting  the  bass  drummer  in  carrying  the  drum,  and 
in  all  respects,  their  enthusiasm  for  the  cause  was 
helpful.  While  we  may  have  a  pardonable  pride  in 
asserting  that  our  boys  have  given  excellent  service  in 
parades  and  programs,  that  the  thrilling  music  of  fife, 
drum  and  bugle  has  quickened  the  pulse  of  crowds  lin- 
ing the  street  or  hall,  it  is  still  true  that  our  primary 
purpose  has  never  been  to  create  or  train  musicians, 
but  to  grow  together  in  mutual  helpfulness,  share  our 


THE  UNITED  8UNDAY  SCHOOL  BAND  137 

commoji  experiences,  to  cement  the  ties  which  bind, 
and  to  lead  toward  the  finer,  and  the  higher  things  in 
life,  which  included,  of  course,  a  reverent  considera- 
tion of  the  Scriptures. 

Many  and  many  a  boy  has  appeared  for  enrollment 
whose  appearances  at  first  sight  were  against  him. 
Shabby,  careless,  rough  spoken.  In  our  judgment  of 
him.  we  would  have  to  call  to  his  credit  the  fact  that 
he  was  faithful  in  Sunday-school  and  regular  at  pub- 
lic school,  with  little  else  to  recommend  him.  Prac- 
tically without  exception,  such  boys  have  proven,  on 
closer  acquaintance,  to  be  possessed  of  worthy  charac- 
teristics, dependable,  and  with  visions  of  a  life  of  use- 
fulness ahead ;  the  kind,  after  all,  upon  which  rests  the 
future  progress  of  our  nation. 


Crossing    tlie    -Missisnippi    ice    at    i{ock    Island,    111.      A    lucal    hike    of 
the   United  Sundav  School   Band. 


The  Bin  Illlr.     10. 


AUGUSTANA  BOOK  CONCERN.   PRINTERS  AND  BINDERS 
ROCK   ISLAND,    ILLINOIS 


